Harry Potter and the Legend of the Four Founders
by SlytherinFan15
Summary: Written pre HBP. A dire warning by the Sorting Hat starts Harry's 6th year at Hogwarts. Dark events during the year reveal the truths of war. But the founders have left a solution to save Hogwarts, if only the trio could find it. HP/GW, HG/RW
1. Final Wishes

Chapter 1

Final Wishes

For Harry, the summer after his fifth year was vastly different from the others he had spent at number four Privet Drive. The wizarding world was at war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters, for the first time in nearly fifteen years. Everyday, a tawny owl delivered Harry his copy of the Daily Prophet Everyday, horrors splashed across the front page: Voldemort's gaining power, the deaths of wizards and Muggles alike, and the court proceedings against the Death Eaters who had been caught at the Ministry of Magic at the end of last school term.

Even the Muggle world felt the repercussions of Voldemort's rising strength. The Muggle evening news gushed stories about missing persons and frighteningly frequent "gas explosions" killing entire households. Uncle Vernon, upon learning from Harry of Voldemort's return the summer before, promptly purchased a home security system and had it installed. He, of course, failed to warn Harry about this. So one night when Hedwig tapped on the glass of Harry's closed bedroom window, the entire alarm system went off. A dozen police men quickly swarmed Privet Drive, and were not at all happy to hear it was a false alarm, set off by Uncle Vernon's "disturbed nephew and his pet owl." After they left, Uncle Vernon, red faced and bulging, had screamed at Harry for a good half hour. Harry, however, made no return argument. There was no point in telling the Dursleys that their high tech security system, and a dozen Muggle men with their stun guns and batons, stood no chance against Voldemort.

Mostly, however, Harry tried to keep himself busy. Aunt Petunia, suspicious after a couple weeks of Harry asking for extra chores, forbade him from doing anything and ordered him to go watch TV with Dudley. Harry had not suddenly gained a liking for hard labor, but he found when he was busy he did not have time to think about the last time he saw Sirius. He couldn't bring himself to accept that Sirius was gone forever. It proved less painful to just _not_ think about it. Even if that meant scrubbing the grout on the bathroom walls with a toothbrush.

After only two weeks with the Dursleys, Harry didn't expect a reprieve very soon, so it shocked him when one morning Hedwig arrived with a note from Tonks.

Dear Harry,

I hope your summer hasn't been too wretched. Dumbledore thinks it is best for you to come stay at Headquarters for the rest of the summer. I can't tell you much more, in case this letter is intercepted, but I'll be there to pick you up sometime in the next week. See you soon. Tonks

Harry blinked and read the sentences again. He was thrilled to be leaving so early in the summer, but the thought of Grimmauld Place and Sirius gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. However, he immediately began packing anyway.

Three days later, the doorbell rang in the middle of dinner. Uncle Vernon immediately consulted his closed circuit television, which showed the front stoop through the eyes of a camera. Harry rolled him eyes. There was no way Voldemort would ever ring the doorbell and then patiently wait until someone answered.

And, indeed, it was not Voldemort, but a delivery woman, waiting with a package under one arm and a clipboard in the other.

"Go answer it, boy," growled Uncle Vernon.

"Err, please," added Aunt Petunia weakly, apparently recalling Mad-Eye Moody's speech at the train station, when they picked up Harry.

Harry rose without a sound and walked to the hallway. He opened the door, expecting to receive a box, but instead received a familiar, "Wotcher, Harry!"

"Tonks?"

"Like my disguise? I'm quite proud of it," replied Tonks. "Anyway, I'm here to take you to Gringotts."

"Gringotts? But I thought we were going to Headquarters?"

"Dumbledore has some business for you to attend to at Gringotts, and then you'll meet someone who will take you to Headquarters."

"What's taking so long?" bellowed Uncle Vernon, from the dinning room.

"You'd better come in," Harry told Tonks, stepping away from the doorway.

Harry left Tonks in the hallway. He'd barely reentered the dining room when he heard the tinkling of broken china and Tonks yell, "Don't worry, I'll fix it. Reparo."

The Dursleys didn't seem to care that Harry was leaving, and the only good-bye he received was Uncle Vernon's, "fine then."

Tonks helped Harry drag his loaded trunk downstairs, along with Hedwig in her cage. "We'll use the Floo Network out of Mrs. Figg's house, to get to Gringotts," explained Tonks as they closed the front door behind them.

Together, Harry and Tonks crossed Privet Drive and walked the short distance to Mrs. Figg's home. The old woman answered promptly after Tonks's knock, and Harry was immediately greeted by the smell of cats. He could see numerous glowing eyes peering at him from under furniture.

"We'll leave your stuff here," offered Tonks, "and then, when you've got safely to Gringotts, I'll come back and take them to Headquarters."

Half an hour later, Harry stood before the impressive entrance to Gringotts Wizard Bank. He and Tonks entered, but instead of going to the goblin manned desks, they hung a sharp left and went down a brightly lit corridor that ended in a large room, full of numbered doors. At the center stood a receptionist's desk, with a frail looking goblin sitting behind it.

"Let's see," muttered Tonks, "we're looking for number 2659." She barely glanced at the old goblin behind the desk.

Harry looked around, baffled. The doors were only numbered one through nine. Tonks led him to the number two door, and pulled it open. They went down another corridor and into another large room, which, after noticing the frail goblin behind a desk, Harry realized was the same room they had just exited. Tonks again ignored the receptionist, and took Harry through door number six. After another corridor, they once again stood in the same large room.

"Umm, maybe we should ask the receptionist for help?" suggested Harry.

"Don't be silly, Harry, we don't need any help."

She then led him through door number five, and again they ended up in the first chamber. Harry stepped toward the goblin at the desk, but Tonks grabbed his shirt and pulled him to door number nine, pushing him through it. They walked down another corridor, which terminated at a frosted glass door with "Legal Room 2659," etched on the front.

They entered and Harry found himself in a small waiting room, containing only two chairs against one wall and a solid door on the other, with no knob. Tonks took a seat and Harry followed suit.

"Someone should be with us soon," Tonks assured Harry, "we're a few minutes early."

Harry barely had time to reflect on his utterly confused state, when the knob-less door swung open and Remus Lupin walked out, followed closely by a goblin.

"I will see you now, Mr. Potter," spoke the goblin.

As Harry passed the worn and tired looking Lupin, he was given a slightly reassuring smile. As the door closed behind him, he heard a snippet of the conversation between Lupin and Tonks, "Nice to see you got him here safely…"

The room beyond the knob-less door was scantily furnished, containing nothing but a desk and two chairs. The goblin sat down on the far side of the desk, and beckoned Harry to take his seat as well. Harry fervently wished he knew what was going on. Had Tonks forgotten to tell him something. Should he have received an explanatory note from Dumbledore that he had never gotten?

"Please sit down, Mr. Potter," said the goblin a bit forcefully, jolting Harry out of his thoughts.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled back, as he sat down.

A single piece of parchment rested on the desk, written in jet-black ink. Next to it lay a black quill.

"I will now read the last will and testament of Sirius Black," explained the goblin solemnly, "he has bequeathed his fortune to be split among Peter Pettigrew, Remus John Lupin, and James Potter. His estate passes to James Potter. You are the heir of James Potter and therefore, the bequeathal passes to you." The goblin formally, unemotionally read the will. When he finished, he slid the parchment toward Harry. "Please sign at the bottom, indicating you understand and accept the legal exchanges that will take place."

Harry sat in shocked silence for a moment, before automatically taking the parchment. His eyes scanned the words, but his brain didn't seem to want to register them.

_I, Sirius Black, leave my fortunes to be divided among my three closest friends, Peter Pettigrew, Remus John Lupin, and James Potter. I also leave my estate, Number 12 Grimmauld Place and all worldly possessions to James Potter. I would also like it to be known, that it is my final wish that James demolish the building, as that would annoy my mother greatly. I pledge that I make this will while I am of sound mind, as is witnessed below.  
_

Sirius' scrawling signature appeared under the words. Two other signatures followed. The first, Harry immediately recognized as Dumbledore's. The second caused his breath to catch in his throat. He traced the flowing letters with a shaking finger. It was the first time he'd ever see his mother's writing. At the bottom of the parchment, three lines waited. The first one was black, with "Deceased, no living relatives," printed neatly on it. The second line was also black and Harry saw Remus Lupin's looping signature filing it. The last line waited blankly, it's bright red ink seeming out of place.

Harry's senses had gone numb. This was the last thing he had expected to be asked to do. If he signed this, it meant Sirius was really gone. For a crazy second, Harry actually considered telling the goblin there was a mistake. Sirius wasn't dead, he just hadn't returned from beyond the veil yet.

Blinking away tears, Harry picked up the quill and hurriedly scribbled his name on the last line. At first no ink appeared, but after a few seconds there was a small pop and his name and the line both appeared in black.

"It is done," intoned the goblin, as Harry placed the quill shakily back on the desk. "The gold will be transferred to your account and we will owl you the deeds to your new estate." He rose and Harry followed after him automatically. In the waiting room, Lupin sat quietly instead of Tonks.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you what this was about, Harry," said Remus softly. "We weren't sure if you would come, if you knew it was to sign Sirius's will."

"It forced me to accept that he's gone," choked Harry.

"I'm sorry, Harry," replied Lupin, holding the door open. "I'd like to tell you it gets easier, but it doesn't. However, I think seeing Ron at Headquarters will cheer you up."

"But it will also remind me of Sirius," added Harry as he began walking down the corridor.

"Harry, I know how you are feeling all too well. You will find that little things will remind you of Sirius just as much as the big things. Every time you see a hippogriff, or someone's black dog, or when you see the Shrieking Shack, you are going to think of Sirius. It is human nature. And as much pain as it causes, it is when you stop remembering Sirius that you truly have lost him."

Harry stayed silent as they crossed the golden lobby and exited out into Diagon Alley. He had forgotten that he wasn't the only one who missed Sirius. Lupin had now lost both Sirius and James, and Harry felt guilty for focusing only on his own hurt.

"I don't mean to lecture, Harry, but you have to grieve Sirius. Otherwise, it will eat at your soul and your mind, the way it did Sirius. He never got the opportunity to grieve for James in Azkaban, so when he got out, he chose instead to look at you and see James, instead of accepting his loss. When we spoke of you, near the end of last term, Sirius often called you James without realizing it."

Harry wasn't sure what Lupin was driving at, but he didn't trust his voice enough to ask. He just continued to stare at the cobblestones as they walked, not caring where they were going.

"The point I'm trying to get at, Harry, is that you don't want to end up like that. You have to come to terms that Sirius _is _dead. It will take time, but it must be done. I myself am still struggling with it, but I find Grimmauld Place to actually help the process. Many people, who also miss Sirius, surround and bring comfort to me. That is another reason Dumbledore wanted to remove you from your aunt and uncle's protection, so early in the summer."

Still starting at his shoes, Harry mumbled. "One day, when the war is over and we don't need a Headquarters anymore, I'm going to follow through on Sirius' wishes, and tear Grimmauld Place down."

Remus chuckled. "When that day comes, I'll help you tear it down, brick by brick."

Harry finally looked up and found himself in front of the Leaky Cauldron. He found his voice and asked, "why are we here?"

"We are going to take a Muggle taxi to Headquarters. Dumbledore reckons that no decent Death Eater would ever think of Muggle transportation, and that it's probably the safest way to get you there," replied Lupin with a smile. "I practically had to put a full body bind on Arthur Weasley to keep him from coming with us. I've never seen a man so excited about the potential of a car ride."

Harry couldn't help but smile as well. He couldn't imagine the number of memory charms it would require to make that cabbie forget a ride with Arthur Weasley.

The taxi dropped them off at number eleven Grimmauld Place, since the driver couldn't see number twelve because of the Fidelius Charm. Harry got out first and Lupin stayed behind, to presumably pay the driver. Harry, however, was quite surprised to see Lupin pull out his wand and mutter, "Obliviate."

Instantly the driver's eyes glossed over and he bid them good day, in a strange voice, and drove off.

"A precautionary measure," explained Lupin, when he saw Harry's shocked expression. "Although memory charms can be broken, it doesn't make it as likely that any Death Eaters will learn the where abouts of where he dropped us off."

"But they couldn't get in, because of the Fidelius Charm, right?" asked Harry.

"They could not see the house, nor get into it, but it is still not advantageous to have a gang of Death Eaters roving around outside. It makes holding meetings difficult and dangerous, and it's just easier to try and avoid that situation."

Harry stopped Remus as they were reached the front door of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. "I just wanted to apologize, for only thinking about how I felt after having to sign Sirius's will. I didn't even stop to think how you felt…" Lupin however, cut Harry's awkward apology off.

"You don't need to apologize for anything, Harry. You did nothing wrong. You lost someone very close to you. I just want you to know, that if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm always here. Well, I don't know how talkative I'd be around the full moon, but as long as I've had my potion, I would be quite content to just listen."

Harry laughed, but then said seriously, "And I'll be here,too, if you need anyone to talk to as well."

Looking at Harry with tired eyes, Lupin replied, "That is something your father would have said, Harry. You truly do not know how like him you are becoming."

Lupin and Harry knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to answer. After a few seconds Molly Weasley opened the door. Immediately Harry was pulled into a tight hug, as Molly fussed over him.

"Mum, you're going to strangle him," said a very familiar voice from somewhere beyond Mrs. Weasley. Harry struggled free and saw Ron standing a bit behind his mother.

"All right there Harry?" he asked, looking, if it was possible, thought Harry, even taller than he had been two weeks ago.

"I'm alright," replied Harry.

"Are you hungry, Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley, "I have plenty of left overs from dinner in the kitchen. Come on, you look famished." Ron gave him an "it's best to do what she says," look, and Harry had to admit he was a bit hungry, since he hadn't had a chance to finish his meager meal with the Durselys.

Ron followed him to the kitchen and took a seat next to him, but remained oddly silent. Mrs. Weasly bustled around and in no time had a plate set before Harry, heaped with pork chops, mashed potatoes with gravy, and half a mince pie. Harry also got a pitcher full of pumpkin juice and a huge slice of blueberry pie for dessert.

"It's okay," he told Ron between mouthfuls, "I promise I won't bite your head off if you talk to me."

"It's just that, I wasn't sure how you'd be feeling," confessed Ron, "after having to go, you know, go sign the um, well the…"

"…The will," finished Harry, pausing from eating. "It's okay, you can say it. Professor Lupin and I had a nice long talk afterwards. Well he did most of the talking really. It's still surreal to me."

Ron nodded, "I haven't even been home yet, we came straight here off the train. It's so strange not to have Sirius around, and dull too. With just Ginny and me around all of the time, it's bloody boring. We don't even have cleaning to keep our minds off of it. Occasionally Fred and George turn up, or Percy, but we miss not having Sirius. The rows he had with Mum were entertaining in themselves…"

"Wait a minute," interrupted Harry, "did you say Percy is around?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you didn't know," replied Ron. He looked around, making sure his mother was out of earshot. "After You-Know-Who showed himself at the Ministry, Percy came crawling back to the family. Mum and Dad accepted him back, of course. Mum was crying and Dad was saying how we hadn't been a family without him. He was even inducted into the Order. The rest of us aren't so forgiving though, and Percy knows it. Fred and George have been using him as a test dummy for some of their newest joke items, and Ginny and I just try not to talk to him."

"Don't you think you're being a little hard on him, I mean he did come back and admit he was wrong and everything."

Ron snorted. "He came back, but he hasn't admitted he was wrong. He hasn't even apologized for all those horrible things he said to Mum and Dad last year, or that letter he wrote to me about you. We think Mum and Dad are being too easy on him."

Harry, much to his own surprise, wasn't gloating as much as he thought he would last year. Now that everyone knew Voldemort was back, Harry saw the terror it stirred up. He now understood why people were so stubborn about not believing him and Dumbledore last year. They were trying to hide from what they were most afraid of. They thought that by seeing Harry as a criminally insane mischief-maker, and Dumbledore as a power hungry tyrant, that they could still be happy and carefree. So, somehow, Harry felt no anger toward Percy, or even Fudge, for that matter. He knew who his real enemies were, and the disbelievers from the Ministry of Magic were not them.

"You know what I do find interesting, though," commented Ron, "how did the goblins at Gringotts know Sirius had, well, died? I mean, he was still on the run and a fugitive, so it's not like Dumbledore could go report it or anything."

"I can answer that," replied Mrs. Weasley, somewhat gravely, as she refilled Harry's pumpkin juice. "Sirius made that will before your parents had died, Harry. Before he was sentenced to Azkaban. Now, when you make a will in the wizarding world, it is not only your wishes to be carried out after your death, but a magical contract, which is never written in black ink, always some other color. At the moment of the will-maker's death, the ink burns black, except for the inheritors' signature lines. Everyday at Gringotts, the goblins go through the stacks of wills and sort out the ones that have turned black, and then they go about contacting the other parties involved. Goblins don't really concern themselves with matters outside of Gringotts, so it mattered not that Sirius was an escaped convict. All they cared about was that his will had turned black and that people needed to be contacted, in order for the goblins to do their jobs, which they take very seriously."

"But, then, shouldn't they have realized that Peter Pettigrew wasn't really dead, when everyone thought he was," asked Harry?

"Only if he had made a will and stored it at Gringotts, which he may not have done." She fell silent and began scrubbing dishes at the sink.

"Come on, Harry, let's go take a tour of your new house before bed. I still have to feed Buckbeak and Pig anyway," suggested Ron.

Buckbeak still lived in Sirius' mother's old bedroom. The creature looked up expectantly when they opened the door, but when he saw it was only them, laid his head back down on the bed. The boys bowed cautiously, but Buckbeak barely nodded his head.

"I think he's depressed," confessed Ron, "he must miss Sirius awfully."

Buckbeak looked up at Harry, and Harry somehow understood the sadness and confusion in the hippogriff's eyes. He stroked Buckbeak's glossy feathers on his neck, and said sadly, "Sirius is gone, Buckbeak. He's never coming back, so I'm going to be the one taking care of you now."

Ron laid out half a dozen dead rats before Buckbeak, but the winged creature barely sniffed at them.

"Come on now, you have to eat," coaxed Ron. Buckbeak scoffed two rats grudgingly, with a sickening crunch.

"It can't be good for him either, being cooped up in this house all the time," said Harry, as he and Ron made their way to the room they would be sharing.

"Yeah," agreed Ron, "next time Hagrid is here for a meeting, we'll ask him to go have a look at Buckbeak."

Ron led Harry to the same room he'd stayed in last year. Tonks had delivered his things. His trunk sat at the foot of his bed and Hedwig and Pig perched atop the dresser, their empty cages on the floor. Ron gave both birds some owl pellets and opened the window so they could come and go. After changing into their pajamas and crawling into bed, Harry remembered that the door was still unlocked.

"Don't bother," replied Ron, when Harry asked if he should get up and lock it.

"But what about Kreacher?"

"He's gone," answered Ron, "after what happened, the Order voted unanimously on it."

"So he was given clothes?" inquired Harry, referring to the only way to set a house elf free.

"Free!" Ron exclaimed. "No, they, well, um, they tried and executed him."

Harry just stared at Ron, with a slightly disbelieving gape.

"Well, he deserved it, didn't he," Ron half asked, half stated, "I mean, he lied to you, betrayed Sirius, and was fraternizing with You-Know-Who. He was a security risk, even if he was kept here. There was a lot of discussion as to whether or not you should make the decision, but Dumbledore decided that it was probably best to not add to your stress. Apparently they did it in a humane way, if that helps." Ron looked terrified that Harry would blow up again, as he had done on so many occasions last year.

Harry, however, felt mixed emotions. At first he felt sympathetic, but then an annoying little voice, from the back of his mind, reminded him just how much Kreacher was involved in Sirius's death. If he hadn't lied to Harry, Harry never would have gone to the Ministry of Magic looking for Sirius, who wasn't even there. Harry would not have needed to be rescued by the Order and Sirius, and thus, Sirius never would have died. For a second, Kreacher's death brought Harry happiness. Then the feeling faded. While Kreacher would not be able to betray anyone else, his death did not bring Sirius back.

Ron continue to stare at Harry with a scared expression, so instead of voicing his present opinion, Harry lightened the mood by asking, "So, how are you going to tell Hermione this?"

"Tell her? I'm not telling her!" replied Ron fervently, "she'd go bonkers, and we'd never hear the end of SPEW. I'm not going to tell her for her own sake and our sanity. We'll just tell her that he has been set free, that will satisfy her."

Harry laughed, for probably only the second time that summer. He had gotten a perfect mental picture of Hermione's reaction to the news that Kreacher had been killed, and he whole heartedly agreed with Ron that in this case, a little white lie was the best thing.


	2. Ask and You Just Might Receive

Chapter 2

Ask And You Just Might Receive

Harry suffered strange dreams that night. He saw Sirius emerging from behind the veil in the department of mysteries, holding the broken pieces of the mirror he had given Harry. Sirius made a fist, squeezing the shards, but instead of blood, red feathers dripped from his hand and landed on the floor. In a flash of light, Fawkes the Phoenix appeared at Sirius's feet and then flew to his shoulder. The marvelous bird shed tears onto the pieces of glass and they magically joined back together into the mirror. Sirius placed the repaired mirror on the floor and stepped backwards, back into the veil, which fluttered violently for a second, only to become still again. Fawkes began doing something strange. His body seemed to elongate, morphing into something else. After a few seconds Harry recognized the emerging form of a hippogriff, Buckbeak to be exact. He bent his scaly knees, sank to the floor by the veil, and began to sob. Harry found it a pitiful sight, as the hippogriff cried louder and louder. With a start, Harry woke up.

It was still night and darkness pervaded the room. Harry could hear Ron's light, but even, breathing in the next bed, but he could also still hear Buckbeak's sobs. Waking enough to get a grasp on reality, Harry knew it couldn't be Buckbeak who was crying. The sounds of some distraught person came through the wall, at the head of Harry's bed. The rest of the house was silent, not even a squeaking floorboard could be heard. With a small start, Harry realized that the next room belonged to Ginny.

Quietly, Harry slipped out of bed and padded to the door. He opened it slowly, trying to dull the squeaking, and slipped out into the hallway. He knocked lightly on Ginny's door, and after a few moments of no answer, he pushed it open slowly. The room glowed dimly by the light of a nearly burnt out candle on the bedside table. Ginny laid curled up on the bed, facing away from him, but clearly crying.

She looked over at him and quickly turned away. "Go away."

But Harry was not going to go away, not until he knew Ginny was alright. "What's wrong, Ginny?"

"Nothing, go away!"

Harry took a few more steps into the room, and closed the door lightly behind him.

"Well something is wrong," he stated. "Don't worry, I won't tell Ron or anyone else."

"It's stupid, just go away," came the muffled reply.

"Why are you crying, Ginny?"

Ginny propped herself up on her elbows and turned to face Harry. She wiped her puffy eyes on the sleeves of her pajamas and said shakily, "If you must know, I just got a letter from Dean saying that he doesn't want to go out with me anymore, because he met someone else already."

Harry fought the urge to laugh as say, "Is that all?" Instead he went with a more consoling, "I'm sorry."

He stood there for a few awkward moments and was just about to turn around and go back to bed, when Ginny surprised him with a question. "How did you feel when Cho ditched you?"

"Umm, well, she didn't really officially ditch me," replied Harry, feeling himself go red, "it was more of a mutual thing. Why are you asking, you survived breaking up with Michael Corner last year…" Harry trailed off.

"Yeah, but I was the one doing the ditching then," said Ginny thickly, "it's much different when you become the ditched."

"Well, you have me beat in experience," commented Harry, sitting down at the foot of her bed, "the only thing I know about dating is from Cho, and we know that didn't end all that well."

"What exactly did happen?" she inquired, "if you don't mind me asking, that is?" Harry had dodged a similar question on the train back from school a few weeks ago, but somehow, sitting there in the semi-darkness with Ginny he didn't mind the question.

"Well, she was jealous of Hermione to begin with, I think. And then when her friend told Umbridge about the DA, she got mad at Hermione for putting that spell on the parchment. When I stood up for Hermione, she didn't care for it much, and we went our separate ways after that. Looking back, I guess we really didn't have all that much in common to begin with."

"Well, there will be other girls," said Ginny brightly. Harry knew full well that a couple years ago Ginny would have given anything to be one of those girls, "I mean with you being famous and all."

Harry laughed darkly, "Yeah, that really makes them line up for me."

"You know what I mean, after this whole thing with You-Know-Who is resolved…"

"Voldemort," said Harry automatically correcting Ginny, causing her to wince at the name.

"You were brave enough to fight against his Death Eaters, and he was even there at the end, so why won't you say his name?"

"Old habits are hard to break," replied Ginny, "but I'll try to start saying his, I mean, V-Voldemort's name."

The wick of the candle finally gave out, and the room was plunged into darkness. Ginny started rustling around in a drawer next to the bed for another one, but Harry saved her the trouble by saying, "Don't worry about it, I should be going back to bed now, and I'm sure you're tired. Besides, I don't mind the darkness, all those years in the cupboard under the stairs, kind of made me used to it."

"Oh, it must have been horrible growing up like that Harry," soothed Ginny apologetically.

"No, it wasn't fun, though I'd take the cupboard over growing up like Malfoy, thinking I was the greatest thing to hit the wizarding world since Quidditch."

Ginny giggled, "I can't even begin to imagine you acting like Malfoy."

"What, you can't see me as a blond?" asked Harry, pretending to be affronted. Ginny laughed even harder, but it turned into a large yawn at the end.

"Well, I really should go back to my room now," added Harry, "now that I know you are all right and everything." He yawned too.

"Thank you, Harry," replied Ginny as she stifled another yawn, "you are always making sure I'm all right."

"You can hold you own," returned Harry, slightly flattered, "I mean, you fought as well as any grown wizard, when we were at the Ministry."

"Yeah, but only because you taught me all that stuff in the DA. And when I was in my first year, you saved me from the Chamber of Secrets, and you've saved Ron lots of times. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him. Then, last year you saved Dad's life as well."

Harry was glad Ginny couldn't see him blush in the darkness. "I had lots of help with those things, and a lot more luck." He yawned again. Ginny's bed was made entirely of feather down, and was insanely comfortable. He yawned yet again, and Ginny did the same.

She giggled, "I guess yawns really are contagious."

"Yeah, I wonder why that is?" replied Harry, stifling yet another yawn.

"I don't know," replied Ginny groggily. They continued to make snippets of conversation back and forth, growing more and more tired, until they both fell silent.

Harry wasn't sure what woke him from a very deep sleep, but when he opened his eyes the sun was shining into the room and bird song could be heard outside. Judging from the amount of light, it must have been late morning. He heard running feet outside in the hall, and the door was suddenly thrown open, causing Harry to jump. He automatically reached for his wand, but it wasn't there. Neither was his nightstand. That was odd.

"Ginny, wake up, I can't find Harry anywhere…" Ron stopped dead.

It was only then that Harry realized he was not in his bed, nor even his room, and there was something warm curled up next to him: Ginny.

"You slept with my sister!" Ron exclaimed, his voice taking on a slightly higher pitch and waking up Ginny. Harry tried to make his tongue move, to utter an explanation, but Ginny beat him to it.

Sitting up, she whispered, "It's not what it looks like Ron."

"Oh yeah, well to me it looks a lot like my little sister and my best friend in the same bed!"

"Ron, I swear, nothing happened," explained Harry, finding his voice.

"Yeah," added Ginny, "I was upset last night and Harry heard me crying, so he came in to check on me. We started talking, and I guess we just fell asleep. It wasn't planned or anything."

Ron looked from Ginny to Harry, apparently trying to decide whether or not to believe their story. He still looked suspicious when he said, "So that was all?"

Ginny and Harry nodded their heads in agreement. "Though it would still be nice if you didn't mention this to Mum or Dad," put in Ginny.

"Or well, anyone else for that matter," added Harry, who wasn't sure if he was embarrassed or amused by the situation. One thing he knew, though, he didn't want Fred and George to find out, or he would never live it down.

"I won't," promised Ron, "but can you at least get up, or are you going to lounge all day?" Harry and Ginny both hopped out of bed quickly, and Harry made his was back to his own room, followed by Ron. Once the door was closed behind them, Harry finally made up his mind that the entire situation was, in fact, hilarious, and started laughing out loud.

"What's so funny?" demanded Ron.

"Just the look on your face when you walked in," replied Harry, "it was priceless."

"Well I'm glad you think so," retorted Ron, who was obviously still not happy about what he had just witnessed. "So, what was Ginny crying about anyway?"

Harry paused half way through pulling on his jeans. "I promised her I wouldn't tell you."

Ron glared back at him.

"Sorry," added Harry, "but a promise is a promise, ask Ginny yourself."

After getting dressed, they went downstairs to the kitchen for a breakfast of cold bacon and toast. Mrs. Weasley had cooked earlier that morning for Mr. Weasley and Percy, before they went off to work and before she went out to do the day's errands.

"There's a meeting this afternoon," said Ron casually, "so, naturally, Mum is going to find something for us to do on the other side of the house, to keep us from spying."

"I think I'm going to ask Dumbledore if I can join the Order this year," replied Harry absentmindedly.

"Do you really think he will let you?" asked Ron.

Harry shrugged, "It's worth a try. With all that has happened since last year, maybe things will be different."

"Yeah, and then I'll be left all alone," said Ron gloomily, "cause there is _no_ way Mum is going to let me join. She still won't let Fred and George join, and they are of age."

They whittled away the morning and part of the afternoon by playing games of Exploding Snap and thinking about who they thought would be their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the coming year. At a few minutes before three o'clock, they ventured downstairs in hopes of catching Dumbledore arriving so that Harry could ask him about joining the order. A few people milled around the entrance way, waiting for the meeting to start, but Harry did not recognize most of them.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Ginny, joining them at the top of the stairs.

"Waiting for Dumbledore," Harry answered, "so I can ask him if I can join the Order."

"Ohhh," replied Ginny, sounding more intrigued than the situation warranted.

They did not have too much longer to wait. At almost precisely three o'clock, Dumbledore knocked on the front door and was let in by Mrs. Weasley. Professors McGonagall and Snape followed him in.

Harry took a deep breath and tried to walk down the stairs, in what he hoped looked like a mature manner.

"Uh, Professor Dumbledore, may I speak with you for a second?"

Dumbledore looked over at him, and for a split second Harry was afraid he might say no and immediately enter the room where the meeting was to be held. Instead he smiled and replied, "certainly, Harry," and once Harry had finished descending the stairs added, "I'm glad to see that you arrived here safely."

"Um, thank you," mumbled Harry, "uh, Professor, I, uh, wanted to ask you if there was, umm, any chance if I could, well, join the Order this year?"

Harry held his breath, waiting for an answer, and wished Dumbledore had a more readable expression.

"Ahhh, I thought that may be what you wanted to talk to me about. Well, I myself can not just let you into the Order, it must be voted on before the entire group, but I will bring up the subject during this meeting." He excused himself and entered the meeting, followed by a few latecomers, including Tonks.

"Well?" asked Ron, as Harry climbed back up the stairs.

"Well," replied Harry, "I didn't get shot down, but it wasn't a resounding yes either. He said he would bring it up during the meeting, so the Order can vote on it. I guess I'll find out in a few hours."

The next few hours, however, crawled by about as fast as an eon. Ron retrieved his chessboard and set it up at the top of the stairs, where they had a clear view of the entrance below. Four games later Harry had been beaten by both Ron and Ginny, and the meeting still hadn't been adjourned. They were about to give up waiting there and go raid the kitchen for a snack, when the door opened and Order members began filing out, talking quietly with each other. Most left immediately, but others hung around the entrance way, waiting for people who had still not exited. Tonks and Mad-Eye waved before leaving (well, Mad-Eye nodded briefly) and Lupin exited with Mrs. Weasley, both going into the kitchen. Dumbledore was one of the last to leave the room. Harry got up quickly, and forgetting any dignity, practically ran down the steps. Dumbledore saw him coming and turned to meet him at the bottom of the steps.

Before Harry could even inquire about the vote, Dumbledore told him, "We voted, and nearly everyone voted for you to be inducted…" Harry's heart started racing, "but only if…" Harry should have known there would be a 'but,' there was always a 'but.' "But only if you complete your Occlumency studies with Professor Snape. Most of the Order feels, and I agree with them, that Voldemort can still get into your head and possibly find out Order secrets if you know them."

Harry wasn't overly thrilled with the deal, but he would do anything to get into the Order, even if it meant more personal lessons with Snape.

"Okay, I'll do it if Professor Snape agrees."

"We've already discussed it. Your first lesson will be right after the meeting next week."

Despite more one on one time with Snape, Harry still couldn't help feeling enthusiastic, as he thanked Professor Dumbledore and hurtled back up the stairs, to tell Ron and Ginny.


	3. Pocket Boggarts

Chapter 3

Pocket Boggarts

Harry spent the rest of the afternoon feeling elated, until he and Ron were called to dinner. When they entered the kitchen, they found that Professor Lupin had stayed and that Mr. Weasley and Percy had returned from work. As they walked in, the room went silent and Harry had the sneaking suspicion that they had been talking about him moments before. Ginny joined them a few minutes later and a hearty dinner of shepherd's pie was served. Half way through the meal Harry noticed that the conversation at the table was severely lacking and Mrs. Weasley was not being her usual cheerful, talkative self.

Leaning over to Lupin, who was on his right, Harry whispered, "Why is everyone so quiet? Was the meeting especially grim today?"

"No," Lupin whispered back. "Right before you entered we were having a rather heated discussion about whether or not you should be allowed to join the Order. Although most members are of Dumbledore's opinion on the matter, a few," his eyes flickered toward Mrs. Weasley, "still think you are too young to be allowed in."

Harry nodded in understanding. It was only last year he had been sitting at this very table having the same debate. Only then it had been Sirius who came to his rescue; he had been the only one who thought Harry could handle hearing what was happening with Voldemort. The memory made him slightly sick and he looked down at the remaining food on his plate in disgust.

Suddenly two loud pops echoed in the room. Mrs. Weasley gave a slight scream while Harry and Lupin both jumped to their feet, wands out. Ginny let out a small squeal as she tumbled backwards off her chair, which she had been balancing on only two legs. But all the commotion was unwarranted, as it was only Fred and George, who had decided to Apparate into the kitchen.

"How many times have I told you to use the door?" Mr. Weasley said sternly, clutching his chest, "you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"And a concussion," Ginny said sourly, as Ron helped her off the floor. She gingerly rubbed the newly formed lump on the back of her head.

"Sorry," apologized Fred, "but we did try to use the door. We stood there for almost ten minutes knocking, but you lot couldn't hear it…"

"…and we knew if we rang the bell that hideous portrait would wake up and start her caterwauling," finished George.

"So you see, we really didn't have much of a choice except to Apparate," added Fred.

"But at least we got here in time for some grub," said George, making two chairs appear out of nowhere. He seized one and squeezed in between Harry and Ron, while Fred grabbed the other and made himself comfortable between Ginny and Percy.

Recovering from her initial shock, Mrs. Weasley was soon up and about, first getting some ice for Ginny's head, then clearing off the dishes from the table and floating them magically over to the sink to be cleaned.

"Well aren't we a talkative bunch tonight," commented George sarcastically, through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Guess we will just have to make our own conversation," said Fred. "So George, how's business going?"

"Just fabulous, thank you, Fred. Today we got thirty orders for our fake wands and another twenty for our skiving snack boxes."

"Not to mention those fifty orders last week for ton-tongue toffees. We might have to start hiring extra staff soon," continued Fred.

Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry from across the table.

"I'm glad to hear that your venture is turning out well for you," Lupin said mildly, a slight smile on his face.

"You're partly to thank, Professor," replied Fred.

"The boggart lessons we had with you inspired a new idea," elaborated George. "We've created a great new item, kind of like a miniature boggart. You slip it into someone's bag, or pocket, or whatever and when they go to pull it out it turns into whatever they are most afraid of."

"Can you pass the salt please, Ron?" interrupted Fred.

Ron reached for the salt shaker in front of him, though Harry swore he had seen Mrs. Weasley clear it off the table already. As soon at Ron picked up the shaker, there was a small pop and he was suddenly holding a tarantula instead. Instinctively he threw it back onto the table and backed away, turning a pale color.

Fred and George laughed uproariously. "The best part is it can be disguised as almost anything," cackled Fred, picking the salt shaker up with a napkin so that it didn't morph.

"Though it works best on smaller things, like Ronnie's fear of spiders. Hold out your hand, Harry," commanded George, accepting the salt shaker and napkin from his twin, "don't worry, I'm just showing how it doesn't work on large things."

Harry hesitantly put his hand out, palm up and George set the salt shaker in it. With another small pop a miniature dementor appeared in the palm of his hand. It was anything but scary, being only about three inches tall and not at all menacing. Harry laughed and put it down on the table, where it turned right back into a salt shaker.

An evening with Fred and George was never boring. They sat in the drawing room they had cleaned together the year before, which was now dust and doxy free, well lit, with cushy new sofas. The glass front shelves were very bare, since only the pieces that Sirius had felt were acceptable remained. On the other wall, the Black family tree still hung, the tapestry firmly attached to the wall by a Permanent Sticking Charm. Harry kept glancing over at it, recalling the day he and Sirius had stood there discussing it. Harry had learned that the Blacks and the Malfoys were related by marriage, and that the same people who had driven Neville's parents insane were Sirius's cousins. Harry kept getting lost in his thoughts so often that, during their four way Gobstone battle, Ginny, who was only a spectator, had to make many of Harry's moves for him. The others realized that it was Sirius who was on Harry's mind, and didn't bother him too much about the game.

Ron had just suggested a change of venue, to allow Harry to get his head back in the game, when Percy came storming in, looking extremely angry. He threw something shiny down at Fred and George and then stormed back out. Fred and George immediately broke into uncontrollable laughter, ignoring what looked like a galleon at their feet. Ron reached to pick it up, and it immediately turned into an ugly spider. Ron threw it back down and a galleon reappeared, and Harry realized that it was another Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product.

"We slipped it into Percy's pocket at dinner," roared George.

"I wonder what it turned into?" commented Ginny.

"Probably the Minister of Magic telling him he wasn't doing a good job," laughed Fred.

The fun continued through the night, with chess and Exploding Snap, once they tired of Gobstones. They didn't even realize how late it was, until Mrs. Weasley walked into the room in her dressing gown at half past midnight and told them to go to bed. They staggered out and up the stairs, but Harry lingered behind.

"Mrs. Weasley, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

"Of course, dear."

Harry wasn't sure how to approach this topic with Mrs. Weasley. He had tremendous respect for her. She was the closest thing he had to a mother. "I want to talk about my induction into the Order."

A sterner look came over Mrs. Weasley's face and she pursed her lips, rather like Professor McGonagall, but remained silent.

"I know you think I am still too young to be in the Order, and I know that's what you were arguing about before dinner tonight. I also realize that you are trying to protect me, but I have managed to escape Voldemort on my own five times, if you count when I was an infant. My parents were killed the fourth time they met Voldemort."

Mrs. Weasley winced every time Harry said Voldemort's name. "Well, you have been involved in some extenuating circumstances, Harry, but you are still barely sixteen. It's just too young to take on such responsibility."

"Mrs. Weasley, when Voldemort was sixteen he was at Hogwarts. He was already using the name Lord Voldemort with his friends, and he set the monster in the Chamber of Secrets loose on the school, framing Hagrid and killing an innocent Muggle-born witch. He was well on his way to becoming the greatest terror to ever strike the wizarding world. Now I am going to be sixteen, and I feel that being part of the Order is going to help me make sure that when the time comes, I can defeat Voldemort."

"Harry, in all likelihood, it will be Dumbledore who defeats You-Know-Who."

It only now struck Harry, that although they had been guarding the prophecy, the other members of the Order had no idea what the prophecy said. "Mrs. Weasley, you remember the thing that the Order was guarding last year?"

She nodded and looked as though she was going to say something, but Harry cut her off.

"No one else is supposed to know. Dumbledordore only just told me after Sirius was killed," Harry steeled himself to speak his fate. "There is this prophecy," he took a deep breath. Part of him was telling him to keep this information hidden, if he didn't say it out loud then it might not be true. Yet, another part of him longed to share it with someone, to get the awful fact off his chest. "It decrees I am the one with the power to vanquish Voldemort, but I must kill him, or he will kill me. We can not both survive."

Mrs. Weasley made no reply, but she had turned very pale.

"So, you see, it is my fate to have the final battle with Voldemort. Not being in the Order will only lesson my chances of winning. If there is any information I can learn or gain while in the Order, I am going to need it," Harry continued in a resigned sort of way, trying to keep the terror from showing in his voice.

"Harry, I…I had no idea. I had just thought that by keeping you out of the Order I was keeping you safe. Now I know that I can not… I can not fight destiny."

"Well, I'm glad we talked then," said Harry awkwardly, not sure how to end the conversation. "I'm going to go up to bed now."

He began walking away, but Mrs. Weasley called after him, "Harry, have you told Ron and Hermione what you just told me." She looked almost scared to hear the answer.

"No," replied Harry, "I haven't told anyone till now. Ron and Hermione don't need to carry this burden as well, let them be normal teenagers."

Mrs. Weasley pulled him into a motherly embrace, holding him there for a few seconds. When she pulled away she had tears glistening in her eyes. "I didn't know them, but as a parent myself, I know your parents would be very proud of you Harry. I know I am. Sleep well, dear."

Harry climbed slowly up the staircase, looking back he saw Mrs. Weasley cleaning up the mess they had left in the drawing room. His room was dark when he entered and he crossed quietly over to his bed. Ron, however, must have been laying awake, waiting for him.

"So what did you stay to talk to my mum about?" he asked.

"Why she doesn't want me in the Order," answered Harry truthfully.

"Bet that discussion went over well."

"Actually, I think I may have swayed her opinion," Harry replied.

"Wow," muttered Ron, "you'll have to teach me how to do that."

Harry laughed, "Your mum was easy to persuade compared to the Dursleys."

"Yeah, you're probably right. So, you're gonna stay in your own bed tonight, right?"

Harry laughed again, "As long as Ginny doesn't start crying again."

Ron turned over, mumbled something incoherent into his pillow, and then the room fell silent. Harry pulled on his pajamas and crawled under the sheets. Soon he was fast asleep.

The next day dawned dull and damp. It had rained all through the night, and a foggy mist blanketed everything outside. It was mid-morning when a light tapping brought Harry out of his dreams. He squinted toward the window and was just able to make out the form of an owl, who was tapping to be let in.

He got out of bed, and realized that as he got to the window, it was Hedwig who wanted in. Pushing the frame up, his snowy owl hopped into the room, her feathers soaked from the night's rain. On her leg was a letter that had been wrapped in a plastic bag. After the letter was removed, Hedwig flew over to her cage, spraying Harry with water as she flew by him. He closed the window before uncurling the parchment and putting on his glasses.

_Dear Harry and Ron,_

_I hope you can read this, as I can't perform a waterproofing spell outside school I had to settle for a Muggle solution. Since I haven't received any frantic letters from Ron, I assume Harry has got there safely. I hope to be joining you two in a few weeks. I have been working with a lovely witch who works for the Order in order to try and protect my house. There is no telling how far Malfoy will go to avenge the "injustice" we have done to his father. And we all know how much he adores me, so Dumbledore thought it was a good idea to put up some preventative spells around my house, since the Death Eaters don't have a problem killing Muggles._

_Anyway, I hope your summer has gone well so far. I've been getting the Daily Prophet every day, so I'm staying up on what is happening in the wizard world. Hopefully I'll be seeing you both soon._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

Harry was tempted to go downstairs and find some breakfast, but he knew Ron would freak out if he wasn't there when he woke. Instead he pulled out a piece of fresh parchment and wrote a reply to Hermione.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I got here without any trouble. I'll have to tell you about my detour to Gringotts when you get here. I never even thought that your parents might be in danger, so it's good that Dumbledore is on top of things. Hopefully those spells don't get tested. _

_See you soon,_

_Harry_

The scratching of his quill apparently disturbed Ron, who rolled over and said groggily, "Whatcha doing Harry?"

"Writing a reply to Hermione. She sent us a letter," he replied, throwing Hermione's letter onto Ron's bed.

Ron rubbed his eyes and then read over the letter. "Well that's nice," he said in a rather uninterested voice.

"Do you want to write anything back, before I send Hedwig back with my reply?"

"Sure," said Ron, who took Harry's letter and quill and scratched on the bottom of Harry's letter:

_**P.S. Hi from Ron and see you soon.**_

Harry rolled his eyes at Ron, as he walked over to Hedwig's cage. She however, didn't seem very happy at the prospect of going back out before she was properly dry, so Ron told him to use Pigwidgeon instead. Once Hermione's letter was on its way, Harry coaxed Ron to get out of bed and go with him to get breakfast.


	4. Faces from the Past

Chapter 4

Faces From the Past

For as early as it was, the kitchen was surprisingly full of people. Mrs. Weasley was busy at the stove, frying sausages and flipping pancakes, while Mr. Weasley, Percy, Fred and George were all seated around the kitchen table. Fred and George were still acting very coolly towards Percy as they talked, and Mr. Weasley was submerged in the Daily Prophet.

"Ahh, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley greeted after noticing Harry and Ron enter the kitchen. "You got an owl this morning from Gringotts. I left it on the table."

Harry ripped open the envelope and pulled out several sheaths of parchment.

"What is it?" inquired Ron curiously.

"The deeds to Grimmauld Place," replied Harry, who had completely forgotten they were going to be sent.

"Cool," Fred commented, "so as the new owner, what are you going to do about that hideous portrait in the front hall?"

Harry shrugged, "What can I do? It's permanently attached."

"You could always just use a good Reducto curse," added George, "that would unstick it."

"Harry is not going to blow a hole in the wall," Mrs. Weasley said sharply, ending the conversation by putting breakfast on the table.

Half an hour later, Mr. Weasley and Percy left for the Ministry of Magic, and Fred and George went to open up their shop. This left Harry and Ron sitting in the kitchen, wondering what to do that day. Luckily for them, Mrs. Weasley had already devised a busy schedule for the day that all revolved around cleaning.

"But we cleaned last year," moaned Ron.

Mrs. Weasley gave him a disbelieving look. "With a house this large and no house elf, it will need to be cleaned much more than just once a year, Ronald."

The cleaning was much less stressful than the year before, as there was no de-doxying to do. Harry and Ron dusted and beat the carpets, while Mrs. Weasley used her wand to clean windows and furniture. Ginny was also recruited, as they started the second floor, and it was nearly mid-afternoon before they began on the third and final floor. They had completed three rooms, when, as Ron was opening the door to the next one, Mrs. Weasley stopped him.

"We'll just skip that room, dear," she said quickly, pulling the door shut.

Ron shot Harry a, 'what's up with her' look, which was usually reserved for Hermione.

"But Mum, doesn't Sirius's room need clean…" Ron shut up suddenly, realizing why his mother didn't want to clean that room just now. He braved a look at Harry, who had stopped dead at his words. Harry didn't say anything, just looked with intrigue at the door.

Harry remained silent for the rest of the day, lost in his own thoughts. When he and Ron finally went to bed, he lay awake, listening for Ron's breathing to signal that he had fallen asleep. Once he was sure that Ron wouldn't hear him leave, he got up silently, pulling out a candle from beside his bed. Trying not to make a sound, he climbed upstairs and walked softly to the room Mrs. Weasley had not had them clean. Slowly he pushed the door open, his heart hoping to see Sirius sleeping, but his brain was telling him that the room would be empty. From the light of the candle, Harry could see the messy state of the room. He knew everything was in the exact place it had been the night Sirius had rushed out to go save Harry and his friends at the Ministry of Magic. Harry softly closed the door behind him and used his candle to light the ones in the room, illuminating it with a soft glow.

The first thing Harry noticed was Sirius's desk, which was cluttered with old copies of The Daily Prophet, letters from Harry, Dumbledore, Lupin, and others, as well as quills and ink bottles. An ink well had been tipped over, drenching a good portion of the desk in a pool of sticky black ink. Harry crossed over to the bed, which had been made, though not very well. On top was an open Daily Prophet from the day Sirius had died, the pictures still moving slowly. Beside that were rolls of bandages, and Harry remembered being told that Kreacher had injured Buckbeak to keep Sirius busy when Harry called. Next to the bed was a nightstand, with only two objects on it: the same picture Harry had of his parent's wedding and the counterpart to the mirror Sirius had given Harry. Harry sat down on the edge of the bed, emotions welling up inside him. The guilt had been nagging at him for a while, guilt over never opening the package Sirius had given him until it was too late. Harry felt immensely stupid. He knew that he had in his possession the means to communicate with Sirius without using the Floo network, and had failed to utilize it. If he had only opened the package a day earlier, half a day earlier even, Sirius would still be alive. He simply could have checked in with him that way, found that he was safe and sound at home, and avoided the Ministry of Magic completely.

"I miss you so much," said Harry to the empty room, hot tears welling up inside his eyes and spilling down his cheeks. "Why did you have to die?" he yelled. "Why? Just when I was starting to feel like I could belong to a family again! Wasn't it bad enough that my parents had to die? Why do I have to lose everyone who is close to me?"

The last thing Harry expected was for the silence to answer him, so he was quite startled when a small voice said, "You haven't lost everyone who is close to you, Harry."

Ginny Weasley stood silhouetted in the doorway. "I saw the way you looked when you found out this was Sirius's room," she explained, "so I thought you might come up here tonight. I stayed awake, listening for you to walk past, and then I followed you. Please don't be mad, Harry."

"But why did you follow me?" asked Harry, trying to inconspicuously wipe the tears from his face.

"Because no one should be alone to deal with what you are dealing with," she replied, "and I knew Ron was too thick to know that you would come here."

There was a moment of awkward silence between them, before Ginny continued bravely on, "and never think that you lose everyone who is close to you, because you still have Ron, and Hermione, and Dumbledore," she paused, "and me." She paused again, "Harry, no one can replace Sirius, but you are never alone either."

Harry wasn't sure why, but he didn't mind Ginny being there, as he would if it were Ron. He didn't care that she had followed him, or that she saw him crying and heard what he had said. Harry looked at Ginny a way he never had before, and she seemed to understand because she crossed the room and sat down next to him, pulling him into an embrace. Harry noticed that her eyes were also shining with unshed tears.

After a few minutes Harry pulled away, "Thank you," he said quietly.

"If you want, I know a spell that would permanently seal up this room," suggested Ginny. "You could just leave it like this, as a sort of memorial."

"No," replied Harry, "I think I will stay here for a little while and clean it up some."

He began to mop up the ink on the desk, but Ginny didn't leave, she started to help him. She gently folded up the paper on the bed, re-rolled the bandages, then neatly made the bed. By that time, Harry had begun organizing the many letters cluttering Sirius's desk. He couldn't bring himself to throw them away, so instead he piled them neatly together, placed them on a corner of the desk, and promised himself he would go through them eventually. Meanwhile, Ginny had moved to the crowded floor, which was strewn with even more old copies of The Daily Prophet. She neatly piled them, and pushed them against a far wall. Together they moved to the large bureau dresser, which was the only other piece of large furniture besides the desk and bed. Inside hung robes, and folded in the bottom were Sirius's clothes and a pair of shoes coated in dust. Ginny picked up the shoes in order to move them onto the floor. Suddenly a large moth fluttered out from amid the robes, startling her. She gasped slightly and dropped the shoes, which gave a hollow thud as they hit the wooden bottom of the bureau.

"Did you hear that?" asked Harry. "Drop the shoes again."

Ginny again picked up the shoes and dropped them. The heavy soles hit the wood and again created a hollow sound.

"Do you think it has a false bottom?" asked Ginny, who was now inspecting the wood.

"There's only one way to find out," replied Harry, who dropped to his knees and started running his fingers along the seam between the wooden floor and the sides of the bureau. In the very back left corner he found a small knot hole, barely big enough for a finger. Wedging his finger into the hole, he pulled upward and felt the wooden bottom come with him. Messily pushing the clothes off, Ginny helped him lift the false bottom out. Taking a candle, they peered into the crevice and discovered a hidden compartment, only about four inches deep, but filled with dusty pieces of parchment and photographs.

"I think Sirius was a pack rat," breathed Harry, reaching in to pull out a handful of paper.

"That's obvious," replied Ginny, who also pulled out a bunch of paper. "What's in your pile?" she asked.

"I think it's an old picture," replied Harry, blowing gently on the photograph to remove many years worth of dust and dirt. Two faces shown up at him, and though the magic was practically worn off, they were immediately identifiable. "It's my dad and Sirius," exclaimed Harry, showing the photo to Ginny.

"It must have been at Hogwarts," she said, "your dad's in his Quidditch robes, and look Harry," she pointed excitedly to the picture, "look what he is holding!" The quaffle was tucked under one arm and in the other hand was the Quidditch Cup.

Becoming increasingly more intrigued, Harry pulled out the next item on his pile. This time it was an old letter, written in faded blue ink, in a scratchy handwriting which oddly resembled his own. Harry's hand trembled as he silently read the contents of the letter.

**_Dear Sirius,_**

**_Lily and I have some exciting news and we thought you should be the first to know. We're going to have a son. Lily insists that he should be named after me, but I like the name Harry better than James. We would also like you to consider being his godfather, just in case anything would ever happen to us. Lily says I am getting ahead of myself, but I just couldn't wait to tell you._**

**_Love,_**

**_James and Lily_**

"Wow," breathed Ginny, as she read the letter Harry handed her, "but look at this," she handed him another photograph. It showed two couples dancing at a wedding.

"This must have been at my parent's wedding," commented Harry. "There's Sirius, as best man, he's dancing with Mum. And there's my dad. I don't know the woman he's dancing with, but I have the feeling I've seen her before." He fell silent for a moment, thinking, and then he got up and crossed the room. He took the picture off Sirius's nightstand and studied it closely. "There, she was my mum's maid of honor," he said pointing to the picture, "I wonder who she is."

"Let's keep looking," suggested Ginny, "maybe we will find something more about her."

Harry dusted off the next picture in his stack. "Hey, this one has me in it," he exclaimed.

"Where?" asked Ginny.

"It's my christening," replied Harry, "see, there's my parents, and there's Sirius holding me, and- I don't believe it, there's that woman again. She's standing next to Sirius. Does that mean she's my Godmother?"

Ginny shrugged, "It would certainly seem like it."

"Why hasn't anyone told me I had a Godmother?" asked Harry.

"Well you didn't know you had a Godfather until a few years ago," Ginny pointed out, "so it's possible that you wouldn't know about a Godmother as well."

"But you think Sirius would have mentioned her," insisted Harry. "Unless, of course, he didn't want me to know about her."

"Oh, Harry, I'm sure that isn't why."

Harry remained silent, looking longingly at the pictures.

"It's late," said Ginny, "let's go to bed now. We'll go through the rest of this tomorrow."

Harry nodded in agreement, and laid the pictures and letter back into the hidden stash then replaced the false bottom. Before leaving the room he picked up the mirror from Sirius's bedside table and carried it back to his room, where he placed it in his trunk before crawling back into bed. Ron didn't look like he had moved at all, and was now snoring lightly. Harry was tired and fell asleep easily. Again, he dreamed of Sirius stepping out from the veil in the Ministry of Magic, though this time he was accompanied by the mysterious woman from the pictures. Once again he held the pieces of the broken mirror, but this time the woman next to him removed a wand from her robes and repaired the mirror with a silent spell. Sirius gently placed the intact mirror on the floor, and he and the woman stepped back through the veiled archway. The dream ended, and Harry moved into undisturbed sleep. When he woke up the dream was nothing but a quickly fading memory.

That afternoon, Harry and Ginny, this time along with Ron, went back to Sirius's room to further explore their findings from the night before.

"Blimey, Harry," exclaimed Ron, when Harry showed him the pictures of who he thought was his Godmother.

Together they sorted through the rest of the pictures and letters, but none of the others helped solve the mystery of Harry's Godmother. They did find more interesting pictures of Sirius with James, and sometimes Lily, and most of the letters dealt with the first war against Voldemort. Some even concerned the choosing of the Potter's secret keeper. In the end, Harry decided to keep everything he had found, so he bundled it together and placed it in his school trunk.

"You should ask Lupin about her," suggested Ron. "He might know who your mum was close to."

"Or Dumbledore," added Ginny, "he was close to your parents as well."

So Harry waited patiently for the next meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, where he would see Lupin. This would also be the meeting where he would begin a new round of Occlumency lessons with Snape. He wasn't looking forward to that much.

Harry passed time until the meeting by pacing around the landing, waiting for Lupin to arrive. When he finally made his appearance, Harry had to fight not to immediately bombard him with questions. Instead, Harry waited patiently, while Lupin talked with Mrs. Weasley for a few minutes before he noticed Harry looking on.

"Ready for your Occlumency lesson, Harry?" he asked.

"Trying not to think about it," Harry replied honestly. "I did want to ask you something though," he pulled the photos out of his pocket. "I was cleaning out Sirius's room the other day," started Harry, causing Lupin's eyebrows to rise, "and I found a hidden compartment in the bottom of his bureau, where I found a lot of old pictures and letters. I was wondering if you knew the woman in these photographs. Is she my Godmother? Was she one of my mum's friends?"

Lupin looked thoughtfully at the pictures Harry handed him. "I'll admit that this is something someone probably should have told you sooner, Harry. Yes, she was your Godmother, but she died soon after your birth. Her name was Rose Clayard, and she was your mother's best friend at school, much like Sirius was to James. She was in the Order as well, and that's how she died. She was one of the few people killed by Voldemort himself, and it was her death that alerted your parents to how much danger they were in."

"Why didn't Sirius ever mention her when he talked about my parents?"

"I don't know why for certain," replied Lupin, "but I think I can hazard a guess. Rose and Sirius fought like cats and dogs. They despised each other. I don't know where the animosity started, but I can not remember a time when they ever got along. It would not surprise me to know that Sirius didn't mention her out of spite. Now, if you'll excuse me I should be getting to the meeting."

Harry watched as Lupin joined the other members, who had already arrived. He had several hours to contemplate what Lupin had just told him, before the meeting was adjourned and he found himself facing a menacing looking Professor Snape and a looming Occlumency lesson.


	5. This One is For Neville

Chapter 5

This One Is For Neville

For a few seconds Snape and Harry just glared at each other. Their last Occlumency lesson had not gone well, and Harry had a feeling Snape would never forgive him for snooping through his memories.

"I certainly hope you have improved since our last meeting," snarled Snape, menacingly.

Refusing to be intimidated, Harry ignored the statement and instead said, "We can use _my_ study on the second floor."

Once they were secluded in the upstairs study, Snape turned to Harry and explained, "After your failures at this last term, I have decided that it may prove more beneficial to first have you focus on selective memories that I will be allowed to access and others that I won't. It is far easier than trying to repel me altogether. Try to clear your mind of the emotions associated with the memories you do not want me to view."

Harry was finding it hard to pick any memories he would want Snape to see, but before he could really decide which to block, Snape had already begun his countdown. Harry pulled out his wand, as Snape intoned, "Legilimens!"

Harry's memories flickered through his mind as if part of a slide show. He was reading his letter of acceptance to Hogwarts for the first time; Mrs. Weasley was telling him how to get onto Platform 9 ¾; he had just caught the Snitch in his third year, to win the Qudditch cup. However, he could also feel Snape searching for more memories, different memories, horrible memories. Suddenly Harry saw Sirius sliding through the veil at the Ministry of Magic, he was casting the Crucio curse on Bellatrix Lestrange, he was entering Sirius's bedroom at Grimmauld Place.

Harry knew he didn't want Snape seeing him there, crying over Sirius. Desperately, he searched his own memories for something else, something he didn't mind Snape seeing. His thoughts conjured up the last time he had seen Professor Umbridge. She was being chased from Hogwarts by a stick and chalk bag wielding Peeves. The memory almost made him laugh out loud.

Suddenly he was looking at Snape again. For once, he had not fallen to the floor, nor had to use magic against Snape.

His lip curling, Snape sneered, "Not as bad as it could have been, Potter. You did let me get in too far before trying to drive me out. You can not wait until I find the memories you do not want me seeing, you must focus on driving me out before I get to them."

Harry barely listened to what Snape said. It was finally making sense to him, the idea behind Occlumency. It was like a combination of producing a patronus and fighting off the Imperius Curse.

Again Snape said, "Legilimens," and Harry's head swam with images. This time he immediately thought of something that amused him, that he would not care if Snape saw. He brought up the memory from his fourth year, of Malfoy being turned into a ferret by a fake Professor Moody. He kept replaying the memory in his head, thinking fervently, "this is all you get to see." It became a mental tug of war. Snape tried to break past Harry's memory, while Harry focused all his energy on keeping only that memory visible. When Snape finally lifted the spell, beads of sweat covered both their faces. Harry's scar hurt from all the effort he had put in, but a triumphant feeling also pumped through his body.

"I think that is enough for today," snarled Snape, who looked less than happy with Harry's sudden progress. "Next week, same time. In the mean time, you are still to concentrate on getting rid of all emotions before you sleep. I believe you may take that assignment more seriously now that you have learned the consequences of not practicing." With that he strode out of the room, robes billowing.

Snape left Grimmauld Place without another word to Harry, or the other remaining Order members. Harry trundled into the kitchen, following the wonderful scent of Mrs. Weasley's cooking. The family was already seated around the table. Fred and George had shown up again, and Lupin, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore had all stayed as well. Percy was sitting uncomfortably across from Dumbledore, whom he seemed to be trying to avoid making eye contact with, while Ron and Ginny seemed much less chatty than usual. However, dinner with their old professors didn't seem to be troubling Fred and George at all. In fact, they were talking animatedly with Dumbledore about some of their new products at their shop. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with amusement, as George recalled a new product: a prank holiday cracker, that when pulled caused the person any range of maladies, from a mild ticking sensation, to hiccups, to an insane itching. Fred assured them that the symptoms were only temporary and usually stopped in about three minutes. Harry mentally noted to never open a holiday cracker again.

Professor McGonagall looked up as Harry entered. "Finished with the lesson, Mr. Potter? How did it go?"

"Better than expected," answered Harry, giving Ron and Ginny a grin.

"Professor Snape will not be joining us for a most excellent meal?" asked Dumbledore.

"No, he left already," replied Harry. He noticed that Ron looked relieved.

"Very well, I think we will only need one more chair then." Dumbledore waved his wand almost effortlessly and another chair appeared across from Professor McGonagall, and between Percy and Ginny. Harry took his seat and began helping himself to Mrs. Weasley's scrumptious spread.

"How are you feeling?" he asked Professor McGonagall, during a lull in the regular conversation. The past year she had been sent to St. Mungo's hospital after being stunned by several wizards at the same time, while trying to help Hagrid.

"Very well, thank you Mr. Potter. I hardly need that walking stick anymore, and I daresay Peeves will find better uses for it anyway."

Harry smiled as he again recalled the memory of Peeves chasing off Professor Umbridge with McGonagall's walking stick.

Harry and the Weasleys accompanied Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore to the front door after dinner (Lupin would be staying the night). It was then that Harry had an opportunity to privately ask Dumbledore a question, which had been burning in his mind ever since he was told he needed to continue Occlumency lessons with Snape.

"Professor, why aren't you teaching me Occlumency now? Are you still worried that Voldemort may find out we are closer than headmaster and student?"

"It's not so much that, Harry, but something entirely different. As I could probably teach you Occlumency much faster than Professor Snape, I fear that the lessons you learned under me would not fully prepare you for what you would face in a mental onslaught by Voldemort. You would be too relaxed, less on your guard around me. By having Professor Snape continue to teach you, it is the closest I can give you to what you would be facing from Voldemort. Your contempt for Professor Snape, and his for you, allows you to truly learn the art, and will hopefully allow you to protect your mind from Voldemort."

Harry nodded in understanding. What Dumbledore had just said _did_ make a lot of sense.

"If all goes well, then I should see you in a week's time, Harry," continued Dumbledore, as he took his traveling cloak and headed for the door. "Thank you for the wonderful meal Molly. It is always a pleasure when you are cooking."

As he and Professor McGonagall departed, Fred and George prepared to leave as well. They would be spending the night at the burrow, which had been deserted for much of the last year.

"You should see the state of the place, Mum," George was saying. "It'll take us decades to de-gnome the garden."

"And I think we have created new breeds of weeds, not to mention that the chickens have gone wild," continued Fred.

"And there is dust on everything, and the roof needs to be re-shingled, and the ghoul in the attic has broken just about everything up there in fits that we aren't around."

"I know, boys, I know," commiserated Mrs. Weasley, who seemed to have gained many more wrinkles over the past year. Her face always looked tired anymore. "I've just been so busy here, with the Order. Someone has to be here all the time in case of an emergency, and with Sirius gone now, I've just haven't had time to take care of two houses. What I wouldn't give for a house elf. Perhaps sometime this coming week I'll be able to get there and take care of some things."

"It's alright, Mum," replied Fred, who looked slightly guilty for bringing all of it up. "George and I can take care of most of it."

"No, no, I need to get some things anyway."

"If you want to go tomorrow, Molly, I can stay here and watch the place," offered Lupin.

Mrs. Weasley seemed to think about the offer for a few seconds before finally responding. "Thank you Remus, I think I just might do that. Especially now that I have some help." She looked at Ginny, Ron, and Harry. Ginny got a 'that is so not fair' look on her face and Ron opened his mouth to complain. Harry however, thought a trip to the Burrow would be a pleasant outing. It was becoming a bit boring at Grimmauld Place anyway.

The next morning Mrs. Weasley woke them earlier than any of them would have liked. Dressed sloppily, they filed into the kitchen for a light breakfast of porridge and toast. After they had eaten, Mrs. Weasley gave them each a pinch of Floo powder.

"I'm going to Apparate ahead of you," she explained, "to make sure that Fred and George lit the fire like they were supposed to. I don't want you getting stuck in the grate. Give me a few minutes and then follow after me." And with that she was gone with a pop.

"What happens if you try to go somewhere there is no fire?" asked Harry.

"Well, usually you just come out at the next exit," explained Ginny, "but since the Burrow is out on its own, you'd get stuck in the network and have to wait till the fire was lit to exit."

"So, if you accidentally end up at the wrong place, you could be stuck there forever?"

Ginny laughed at Harry's horrified expression. "Well, you might have been if you were traveling back when the network was first introduced, but now the Ministry of Magic has a Floo Network department. They purge the system every night, clears out anybody who got themselves stuck. Not that a whole day stuck in a chimney would be fun either, but it's better than the alternative."

"I think it should be safe to go now," said Ron. "Ladies first," he gave Ginny a sarcastic smile.

"Thanks," she replied coolly. Throwing her handful of Floo powder into the fire, she took a breath, stepped into the fire, and yelled, "The Burrow!" In a flash she disappeared.

Ron counted under his breath, when he reached thirty he said, "Okay Harry, your turn."

Harry threw his powder in the flames and stepped in, allowing himself to enjoy the warm tickling sensations for a second before yelling, "The Burrow." He went spinning into the Floo Network, tucking his elbows in and closing his eyes against the dizzying blur of hearths. Finally he began to slow, and braced himself for the exit into the Weasley homestead, which he managed in a standing position. As he stepped out of the fire, Mrs. Weasley was there to brush the soot off him. Ron appeared a minute later, and they got their first look at the condition of the Burrow.

It was not how Harry had remembered it. The furniture was covered in a fine layer of dust, and the curtains above the kitchen window were buzzing softly, indicating a doxy infestation. Spider webs decorated the corners and dark spaces under the furniture, and every once in a while a small rodent could be seen scurrying the perimeter of the room.

"Well, we certainly have a lot of work to get started on," said Mrs. Weasley heavily. "You three can start in the garden while I get cracking in here. Fred and George are opening their shop late today, so they should be outside somewhere, hopefully doing something constructive. Fred said he thought he saw a venomous tentacula in the garden among all the ordinary weeds, so be careful."

Harry, Ginny, and Ron went out into the backyard where they found Fred and George. Or rather, they heard Fred and George, for the twins were sitting on their broomsticks, hovering above the roof patching holes in the shingles.

The garden looked worse than the house. While normally slightly overgrown and gnome infested, it now resembled a jungle more than a garden. The fence was almost completely invisible behind a thick growth of vines and climbing flowers, which also covered the side of the house that faced the garden, reaching almost to the third story. Some of the weeds were almost as tall as Harry, and resembled young trees more than dandelions.

"Ughh," exclaimed Ron, "I just remembered that we can't use magic. How are we going to clean this place up without magic?"

"The Muggle way," Harry replied. He was used to doing gardening work at the Dursley's, but they would never let their lawn get this far out of control. "To the shed," Harry exclaimed, leading the way to the Weasley tool shed.

Ron pulled open the wooden door and immediately fell back in horror. A large, ugly, hairy, black spider dangled just in front of the entrance. Harry laughed and brushed the arachnid away with the tip of his wand, letting it drop to the ground, where it scurried under the shed. Ron still looked petrified, so Harry grabbed a couple of shovels, a rake, and a hoe from inside the shed. Giving an implement to Ginny and Ron, they began hacking away at the garden growth. They hadn't gotten very far, however, when Fred and George suddenly landed, with two very loud thuds.

"Get inside," yelled Fred, who for the first time ever looked like he was ready to panic. "Half a dozen Death Eaters, just Apparated in the front yard."

Harry noticed that George's hair was singed slightly on the top, and looking up, Harry saw that the roof was smoldering. George kept running his hand over his hair, looking shocked.

"You're bloody lucky he had bad aim," Fred said to him, as he tried to usher the others into the house. Ginny and Ron looked just as shocked as George, while Harry had dropped his rake and pulled out his wand immediately.

"Go," hissed Fred, "we can Apparate, but not till you three get out using the fire."

Mrs. Weasley had also noticed the unwelcome guests, as she flew out of the kitchen. Grabbing Ginny hard by the arm she dragged her inside, motioning to them to remain as quiet as possible. As they tip-toed into the kitchen, Harry braved a glance out the window. He could not see the Death Eaters, which worried him even more.

Mrs. Weasley was about to push Ginny into the fire, when a spell whizzed by out of nowhere and an iridescent wall suddenly surrounded the fire, preventing their escape.

Three masked Death Eaters stood in the doorway to the kitchen, wands out. Collectively, Harry and the Weasley's began to walk backward toward the garden door, but one of the Death Eaters cackled, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The other three Death Eaters stood at the garden entrance, looking just as menacing as the first group. Harry, however, had stopped dead at the voice of the Death Eater who had spoken. It was Bellatrix Lestrange, he knew it was. Hatred brewed up inside him, threatening to spill over and send him over the edge. The only reason he didn't attack her at that very second were the people standing around him. His loathing of Bellatrix did not outweigh his sense of protection. He would not leave Ron's, Ginny's, or Mrs. Weasley's sides.

"Ahhh, look at their scared faces," cooed Bellatrix, in a condescending baby voice. "I bet they never thought we would be monitoring the Floo Network into their house so we knew when they returned out of hiding."

Although they were evenly matched, Harry knew they didn't stand a very good chance against the Death Eaters. They were going to need reinforcements, which meant that someone who could Apparate would have to go for help.

"Apparate and get help," he whispered to Mrs. Weasley, who was standing just in front of him.

"I won't leave you," she replied adamantly.

"Fred, George, go get help, the Ministry, the Order, anyone," he whispered out the side of his mouth.

He knew the twins had heard him as their eyes narrowed determinedly and Fred whispered back, "we'll need a distraction."

"Ahh, what's that your whispering, little baby Potter?" harassed Bellatrix. "Are you going to try and save your friends again, like you tried with my pathetic cousin?"

"Get ready," Harry said through gritted teeth. "No, I said I am going to kill you," he spat at Bellatrix. And although this was exactly what Harry wanted to do, it also had the effect he had hoped. Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters started laughing, finding the idea hilarious. With a pop, Fred and George were gone, though this angered the Death Eaters greatly.

Using reflexes born of Quidditch and the DA, Harry, Ron, and Ginny jumped out of the way of the spells that headed their way. Mrs. Weasley however, was not fast enough, and she was hit hard by a spell in the chest.

"MUM!" screamed Ron, attempting to run to her side, but was held back by Harry.

Forgetting about the rule concerning underage magic, Harry hurled a spell at the kitchen table, overturning it so that he, Ginny, and Ron could use it as a bunker. They were now pinned between the table and the kitchen cabinets, and Harry knew they could not hold it for long, but they only needed just long enough for help to arrive.

The two groups of Death Eaters converged, and Harry hazarded a spell over the top of the table, "Stupefy!" By the sound of it, he had hit someone. Ron and Ginny followed suit, but their stunning spells could be heard hitting the walls. The Death Eaters must have spread out to avoid being such easy targets.

"You can't hide there for long," shouted Bellatrix, her baby voice gone, "Reducto!"

But Harry had anticipated a spell like that, and stood up bravely, shouting, "Protego!" The shield caused Bellatrix's spell to bounce back off the table harmlessly, though it instead hit the fireplace. With an explosion, the brick collapsed blocking the entrance and any hope of escape using Floo Powder.

Falling back behind the overturned table, Harry knew they were going to lose. "If we are going down, we are going down fighting, not hiding like children."

Ron and Ginny nodded in agreement.

"On the count of three then: one, two, three!"

They all stood up. Ron and Ginny bellowed, "Stupefy," while Harry yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Two lucky things happened for Harry just then. First, their spells weren't too far off the mark, causing some of the Death Eaters to duck momentarily. Secondly, Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, and Tonks all rushed in through the kitchen door, with their wands held high and spells flying. Bellatrix and two others ducked behind furniture, but two other Death Eaters were struck by the spells from the arriving reinforcements.

"Get out of here," growled Moody as he limped past their make-shift barricade.

"The fireplace is destroyed," moaned Ron in return, "and we can't Apparate."

"Then get outside and find a better hiding spot," shouted Lupin.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny scurried out from behind the table and ran for the door. As they left they heard a tremendous crash. Bellatrix had jumped behind the sofa, and banishing it in the direction of Lupin, Tonks, and Mad-Eye, who were forced to scatter to avoid being bowled over.

Seizing the opportunity, Bellatrix abandoned the other Death Eaters and hurtled outside after Harry and the others.

"Think you are going to kill me, Potter?" she screamed. "Here's your chance."

It was too much of a temptation for Harry, despite Ginny and Ron's pleas, he turned around to face Sirius's murderer. At that moment, a spell wasn't enough for Harry, he wanted to throttle her with his own two hands. He sprinted directly at her, which seemed to be the last thing she was expecting. With a pop, she Disapparated and Harry ran through thin air, only to hear a cry of anguish from behind him.

Bellatrix had Apparated behind Ron, and had him in a strangle hold, with her wand pressed against the side of his head.

"Not only did I get to kill your Godfather, but now I am going to get to kill your best friend, does the fun ever stop?"

Ron served as a human shield between him and Bellatrix. He didn't dare use any magic for fear of hitting Ron. Thankfully, Bellatrix had forgotten one very important factor: Ginny.

"Expelliarmus!" she yelled. The spell struck with such force that it sent both Ron and Bellatrix flying, their wands arching high into the air.

It was then that Harry acted, sprinting forward he watched Bellatrix grope for her wand. Her fingers were just centimeters away when Harry cried, "Reducto," and blew her wand to pieces.

No longer so brave without a wand, Bellatrix cowered on the ground, inching backwards away from Harry, who shook with rage.

"You killed Sirius," he barked at her, "Crucio!"

She screamed in pain and twisted on the ground, her muscles twitching. The spell was still not full strength, but it worked well enough for Harry.

"Thanks for the advice on that one," he snarled. "That first one was for me, but this time it's for Neville. Crucio!"

Again Bellatrix's body curled, as she screamed from the pain. Harry knew he was enjoying this much more than he should, but he didn't care, he liked it. The curse subsided again, leaving Bellatrix gasping for breath on the ground.

"And now I will make good of my promise to kill you," said Harry, in a strangely calm voice. He raised his wand, ready to strike when a hand grabbed his wand arm.

"Harry, don't!" begged Ron. "Let's just get out of here. The Ministry Wizards have arrived, they'll take it from here."

"No," replied Harry. "She's the reason Sirius is dead. Now you and Ginny will get to see Thestrals."

"I don't want to see Thestrals," whimpered Ginny, who looked absolutely terrified. "I want to get out of here and make sure Mum is alright."

The thought of Mrs. Weasley seemed to drag Harry out of his rage. "Fine, we'll go. Just let me stun her first.

Ron let go of his arm. "This isn't over," said Harry, looking straight into the slits in Bellatrix's hood. "Stupefy!"

The remaining Death Eaters were being rounded up by the Ministry officials, as Harry, Ron and Ginny found Mad-Eye.

"We're ready to get out of here," said Ginny.

Mad-Eye summoned the rake from the garden and turned it into a portkey. "This will take you back to Grimmauld Place. Wait for us there."

"Will my Mum be ok?" asked Ron.

Mad-Eye's face softened a bit, if that was possible. "Ministry officials are taking care of her right now."

With that, the portkey was forced into their hands and they felt the familiar tug behind the naval, before being deposited back in Grimmauld Place.


	6. An Unexpected Demise

Chapter 6

An Unexpected Demise

The portkey rake clanked loudly on the floor of the entrance hall, marking the arrival of Harry, Ron and Ginny back at Grimmauld Place and starting the portrait of Sirius' dead mother wailing. They found Fred waiting anxiously.

"Where's Mum," Fred yelled over the cursing din made by the portrait.

"She got hit by some sort of spell," Ginny yelled back as Fred turned ashen.

"The Ministry wizards were taking care of her when we left," shouted Ron. "Where's George?"

"He went to find Dad at the Ministry," Fred replied loudly.

Harry felt drained from the amount of magic he had used and in quite a bad mood. He could not deal with the foul things being screamed by Mrs. Black.

Marching up to the portrait he screamed. "Shut up or I swear I will blow you to pieces."

"FILTHY HALFBLOOD. YOU BEFOUL MY PRESENCE. YOU FILL A ONCE NOBLE HOUSE WITH MUDBLOODS AND TRAITORS!"

"Shut up already," yelled Harry, wrenching closed the curtains with more force than he intended. With the curtains closed once more the yelling slowly subsided.

Three loud pops signaled George's return, along with Mr. Weasley and Percy. Mr. Weasley seemed to perform a quick head count before asking shakily, "Where's Molly?" He disapparated at once after Ron told him.

"What happened?" asked a distressed Percy.

"Oh, nothing much Perce," Fred replied sarcastically, "just a few of those guys who aren't supposed to exist and work for that guy who isn't supposed to be back showed up at the home of our so irresponsible parents who hang around with..."

"Shut up, dammit," said Percy dangerously. "Our mother has been injured and you are running your mouth off. What's your problem?"

"You are," growled Fred, "you and your double crossing, all mighty attitude."

Percy looked extremely offended. "I'll have you know..."

"That you are nothing more than a mindless cog in a political machine out for nothing but your own gain? Yeah, we already know that," shot George angrily.

"You are so conceited," continued Fred. "You think that just because you got perfect grades in school you are so much more intelligent than everyone else, when you are nothing more than perfect at following other people's orders. You had the nerve to tell off Mum and Dad last year for siding with Harry and Dumbledore and then come back once you found out you were wrong."

"Yeah, and after you had the nerve to send me that letter last year degrading our parents, Harry, and Dumbledore, while you supported that awful Umbridge woman," braved Ron, who wasn't nearly as good at arguing as Fred and George.

Percy looked as though spells were being fired at him instead of words.

"What's the matter, Perce," soothed George in a fake voice, "don't know what to do without Fudge pulling your strings?"

Harry was sure the argument would have escalated if it hadn't been for the apparition of Lupin, Tonks, and Moody.

Still glaring at each other, Percy and George asked simultaneously, "How's my Mum?"

"The Ministry wizards that attended her seemed to think that she would be alright," replied Lupin. "They've sent her to St. Mungo's for observation. Your father is with her. He said he would send an owl when he gets an update."

"I'm going to go send an owl to Bill and Charlie and let them know what's happened," said Percy promptly, stalking off to his room to get Hermes.

"How's the house look after the fight?" asked Ginny.

"Well, someone did a number on the fireplace," answered Tonks. "And there was some damage to the roof and attic, nothing that can't be fixed though."

"They were waiting for us," said Ron, seeming to finally overcome his shock, "monitoring the Floo Network so they'd know when we returned."

"You're family has been marked," replied Moody, in something that sounded like a sympathetic growl. "You-Know-Who knows how involved your parents are in the Order and how close you are to Harry. He also knows how much of a role you have played in helping Harry defeat him in the past. You can no longer take your safety for granted, even at home. Because they were monitoring the Floo Network it means they were waiting for wizards who don't or can't Apparate. You Weasley, and Potter, were their main targets."

"Did they capture all the Death Eaters?" Harry asked.

"The two we had been battling Disapparated when the Ministry showed up," answered Lupin. "But they got the other four, Bellatrix Lestrange included."

"Good," replied Harry.

Mad-Eye Moody gave Harry a strange look before saying, "Do you mind if I speak to you in private, Potter?"

Harry shook his head and they entered the empty kitchen.

"I know you used the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix back there," Moody stated simply. Harry opened his mouth to ask how, but Moody beat him to it. He pointed to his magical eye, "I took a gander out back to see how you were faring once the Ministry arrived. I also saw Weasley hold you back, very decent thing he did."

"Decent?" spat Harry. "Decent? I had the chance to kill her, but Ron stopped me, and that's decent? Was it decent what she did to the Longbottoms? Was it decent what she did Sirius? She deserves to die!"

"I can take it from here, Alastor," said a calm voice from behind Moody. Dumbledore strode into the kitchen.

"I see you got our message then," replied Moody as he limped out of the kitchen.

Dumbledore fixed Harry with a long piercing look before speaking to him. "To answer your last question Harry, as you heard me tell Voldemort several weeks ago, there are many things worse than death. Bellatrix does deserve to be punished for her crimes, most certainly, but in the wizarding world taking a life is the last possible means. Many of the Death Eaters that are imprisoned in Azkaban deserved to die by your standards Harry, but they were locked up instead. To live without your freedom, surrounded by dementors, forced to relive your worst memories day after day until you finally die of sickness or old age is far worse than an instant death, Harry."

"I suppose I agree with that," mused Harry slowly. "It's just that every time I even think of Bellatrix I get this hatred inside of me. I want to hurt her as much as possible, cause her as much pain as she has caused others."

"The Cruciatus Curse isn't the way Harry. Yes, it causes physical pain, but that is not where Bellatrix's weakness lies. Voldemort regularly tortures his Death Eaters with the Cruciatus Curse. You can hurt them in their minds Harry, by helping capture them, show them that they are not on the winning side, that they can be bested. You possess and control something the Death Eaters could never understand, love and compassion. The only thing you are doing by casting the Cruciatus Curse is lowering yourself to their standards."

Harry remained silent for the lack of anything meaningful to say in reply. He was searching for words when his scar suddenly burned and with a yelp of pain Harry involuntarily grabbed his head, doubling over in agony.

"What is it Harry?" said Dumbledore immediately, sounding very worried.

"I think Voldemort has just been informed of his Death Eaters failure at the Weasleys' place," gritted Harry. "He is very angry."

Dumbledore stooped by Harry until the pain in his scar subsided and he was able to stand again. "Well," Dumbled said softly, "now that we have had our small discussion I need to be getting back to other business. I need some extra time, you see, so that I can stop by this lovely little flower shop in London. The witch who owns it does the most beautiful job on get-well bouquets, combines magic and non-magic flowers. I think one may cheer up Mrs. Weasley, which is half the battle in getting well again." And with that he Disapparated from the kitchen.

Harry walked back out to the entrance way, where the Weasley children still stood in shock.

"Don't you need to open your shop?" Harry asked George.

"I'll owl Lee and ask him if he could cover for us," replied Fred, who still looked pale and not at all himself. "Can I borrow Pig, Ron?"

"Sure," replied Ron, who sounded as though he were very far away.

"Is everyone sure they are alright?" asked Mad-Eye Moody as he limped into the room.

They all nodded.

"Well then, I need to head into the Ministry and see how those bumbling fools are handling the scum that they just caught. Tonks, this could be a good training exercise for you. Interrogation is an often overlooked field in Auror training, but I find it to be essential to the practice."

Harry thought, as Tonks and Moody Disapparated, that if Moody were interrogating him he would crack like an egg in no time.

Lupin stayed throughout the afternoon, trying his best to keep Harry's and the Weasleys' minds off what had happened that morning. However, his attempts proved futile, and it seemed more like a millennium instead of a few hours before Mr. Weasley's owl finally arrived from St. Mungo's.

"Dad says Mum is alright. They're going to keep her there overnight, but she's awake. She won't settle down until she knows we are fine, so we are supposed to go see her," read Ron. "Floo network for Ginny, Harry, and me, the rest of you can Apparate."

"I'll stay here and watch Headquarters," said Lupin, "send my regards to Molly."

Percy, George, and Fred disappeared with a pop, while Ginny, Ron, and Harry sped off through the fire place.

Fred was waiting for Ron, Harry, and Ginny when they arrived in the lobby of St. Mungo's. There were the usual strange maladies sitting in the waiting room, including a witch who seemed to have somehow got her ears on backwards.

"Mum's on the fourth floor," explained Fred as he led them to the stairwell.

Harry remembered very well the last time he had been at St. Mungo's over the Christmas holidays the year before. He had been there to visit Mr. Weasley, but on his way to the tearoom had run into a rather childlike Professor Lockhart, as well as Neville and his parents. The idea that Mrs. Weasley was on the same floor made him feel slightly sick and he wondered just how bad her injuries were. However, when they reached the fourth floor, instead of going left into the locked, closed ward they turned right and went into an open ward, lined with patient beds. Mrs. Weasley had the back corner to herself, which was lucky since she had such a large family. Hermes had clearly delivered his letters to Bill and Charlie promptly, as they both were already there, as were Mr. Weasley, George, and Percy. On Mrs. Weasley's bedside table was a large bouquet of flowers, which contained daisies and orchids as well as varieties Harry had never seen before.

As soon as Harry, Ron, and Ginny reached her bedside, Mrs. Weasley attempted to hug them all at once, knocking Harry's and Ron's heads together painfully. She appeared to be in rather good condition and seemed more worried about them than herself.

"You could have been killed! I'm so sorry, I failed you all. The Death Eaters showed up and I thought I could protect you, but I just ended up being the only victim."

"Don't worry about it Mum, we learned how to protect ourselves last year in the DA," said Ginny, looking concerned over her mother's tirade.

"Oh, I know," cried Mr. Weasley. "Oh, Harry, if it hadn't been for you teaching them everything last year, and then saving them today. Oh, I don't even want to think about what could have happened if you hadn't been there."

Harry looked at the floor, blushing madly while Ron seemed slightly hurt over his mother's praise of Harry.

"We could have handled it," he heard Ron mumble.

Harry, though, somehow doubted that, seeing how both Ron and Ginny had frozen at the sight of the Death Eaters stunning their mum. They probably would have just kept standing there till they were stunned as well, thought Harry. Amid his cockiness, though, an annoying voice in the back of Harry's head reminded him that the only reason the Weasley's had been targeted at all were because of him.

They spent several hours with Mrs. Weasley before finally letting her rest and heading back to Grimmauld Place and a waiting Lupin.

"Well, we'll probably make the Daily Prophet at least," joked Fred as he climbed the stairs toward his room. "After not mentioning You-Know-Who at all last year they have been trying to redeem themselves by printing everything that has anything to do with him."

However, it was not the attack on the Weasley's that plastered the front page of the news the next morning.

"They killed who!?" Harry stuttered when Ron showed him the front page.

"Fudge," answered Ron, reading from the Daily Prophet. "They found him dead in his apartment late last night, the killing curse they think, dark mark was over his house."

Harry was slightly shocked at the news. Although he had very few reasons to really like the former Minister of Magic, Harry still felt great sympathy at hearing about his murder. Percy, however, had a much harder time adjusting to the news.

"Don't worry Perce," said Fred mockingly, "I'm sure someone else at the ministry will adopt you as their lap dog. Just give them a few weeks to figure out how obedient you are."

"Have some respect for the dead!" snarled Percy.

"Only if the dead are respectful while living," shot back Fred.

Harry and Ron ignored the ensuing argument as they flipped through the rest of the paper.

"Here we are," exclaimed Ron, "page seven, with a picture of the inside of the house. Several Death Eaters attacked, blah blah, caught by Ministry officials, blah blah, only one minor injury to Molly Weasley, the rest of the family were saved from injury by the heroics of Harry Potter! Looks like you're the hero again, mate."

But Harry still had his mind on Fudge's murder. He turned to Lupin, who sat at the kitchen table with a steaming cup of tea. So far, Harry had managed to stay out of the argument between Fred and Percy, but now that Percy had stormed out of the kitchen he felt it was safe to talk.

"Professor, won't the Ministry be in chaos with the Minister dead?" Harry asked. "The paper didn't seem to say much about how the Ministry is reacting, or who will be the next Minister."

"Although it's a horrible thing to say," replied Lupin, "it's probably better that Fudge died. There had been a lot of pressure on him to step down since Voldemort appeared at the Ministry, but he had no intention of doing so. The man just loved power too much. Now, hopefully, a slightly less power hungry and more Order friendly Minister will be chosen."

"You mean Dumbledore," said Ron.

"No," said Lupin. "I'm sure Dumbledore will be asked, if not urged, but he will not accept the position, not while he is Headmaster at Hogwarts, not while he has students to watch over, especially now."

Harry had a sneaking suspicion that the only student Dumbledore was staying at Hogwarts for was him. He felt very guilty keeping Dumbledore from becoming Minister of Magic, where Harry knew he could probably save the wizarding world from the threat of Voldemort.


	7. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

Chapter 7

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

When Ron and Harry went back upstairs after breakfast they found Hedwig waiting for them with a letter bound to her leg.

"It's from Hermione," said Harry, recognizing the handwriting as he retrieved the letter.

"She's probably wondering why we didn't immediately owl her about the fight yesterday," replied Ron.

Harry untied the scroll and scanned down Hermione's letter. He raised his eyebrows at Ron, "You know her pretty well."

Ron blushed as red as his hair and grabbed the letter.

_Dear Ron and Harry,_

_Are you two okay? Why didn't you write and tell me what happened? I was so shocked to see it in the Daily Prophet this morning. I can't wait to see you soon so that you can tell me what really happened, since we all know after last year how reliable the Daily Prophet can be. How is Ron's mum doing?_

_Can you believe what happened to Fudge? He might have been a bit unscrupulous last year, but he didn't deserve to be killed. I wonder who the next Minister will be. I'm sure they will ask Dumbledore._

_The Ministry is almost finished with the protective charms on my house, so I hope to get to HQ before Harry's birthday. Send my regards to everyone there._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

Ron snatched up a quill and hurriedly scribbled back,

**_Dear Hermione,_**

**_Harry and I are fine, and so is my mum. She is coming home from St. Mungo's today. We visited her last night. Sorry we forgot to write you, but the attack was a bit of a shock. The Daily Prophet got most of it right. They weren't there to see Harry rough up Bellatrix though._**

**_Owl us again when you know when you are coming for certain._**

**_- Ron_**

Hedwig was soon winging her way away from Grimmauld Place once again with Ron's reply to Hermione's letter, leaving the boys to ponder what they were going to do that day.

Fred and George, however, offered a solution almost immediately. Apparating loudly into Harry and Ron's room, they quickly propositioned them.

"So, little bro," cooed Fred, wrapping an arm around Ron's shoulder, "want to make some money this summer?"

Ron looked at Fred with a great deal of apprehension. He had witnessed them paying off first years to test their newest concoctions last year. "I'm not being a test subject for Seizure Sours or something like that."

"You misunderstand us Ronnie," pried George, "We have other, slightly more desperate people, to test our new products on. We need people to help us sell our products."

"You want us to be sales clerks?" asked Harry.

"Precisely, while you, Ron, and Lee work the floor and engage the customers, Fred and I can be in the back, experimenting."

Ron and Harry exchanged looks.

"But will Mum let us go to Diagon Alley and work in your shop?" asked Ron. "I mean, she was bad before, but after what happened yesterday she'll be even worse. And we all know that Harry practically can't go to the loo without an Order escort, just in case You-Know-Who slithers up the pipes or something."

Mrs. Weasley echoed Ron's warning when they approached her on the subject once she arrived home with Mr. Weasley. "Absolutely Not! Dumbledore has given us strict orders not to let Harry out of this house without an Order member present, and as we have just seen, even that does not guarantee his safety."

Lupin, who had been listening somewhat bemusedly from the other side of the kitchen, spoke up, "But what if an Order member accompanied Harry and Ron, would you allow it then Molly?"

Mrs. Weasley gave Lupin a searching look, as if trying to figure out where he was going with that question. Finally, though somewhat tentatively, she said, "I suppose that would be alright."

Harry and Ron looked at Lupin expectantly. They were one step ahead of Mrs. Weasley in following Lupin's thought pattern. Finally he said, "Then, just for today at least, I think an expedition outside of Grimmauld Place is in order."

"Right then," replied Fred, "then we best get going, Lee's been there for over an hour already."

"Weren't thinking of leaving me behind, were you," said Ginny from the doorway, looking at her brothers.

"Wha...noo, of course not Ginny," stuttered George, who had obviously not even given a thought to his little sister.

"It's just that, well, Mum, will you be okay staying by yourself today?" added Fred.

Ginny looked furious at the suggestion of staying home and babysitting her mother, but Mrs. Weasley saved the twins from her wrath when she replied, "Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine. With everything that has gone on, I'm sure there will be Order members popping in and out all day."

Thirty minutes later, Harry found himself walking down Diagon Alley, with Lupin, Ron and Ginny as his body guards. Fred and George had Apparated ahead. The magical street bustledl with witches and wizards of varying ages and varieties. Copies of the Daily Prophet were everywhere, as everyone was talking of only one thing: Fudge.

Fred and George could not have found a primer spot for their store. Nestled nicely on the main stretch, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was a few doors down from Olivander's wand shop on one side, and quite close to Madam Milkin's Robes on the other. In true Fred and George style, the sign over the door was painted in bright colors that kept changing, while the signs in the windows shouted out advertisements for their products to people who passed by, literally shouted. There was a fair crowd inside when Harry entered, and Lee seemed to be up to his eyes in customers.

Fred and George entered from the back room, seeming to ignore Lee's over run state they called Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lupin over to them.

"Ok, here's a quick run down of what you guys will be doing," started Fred. "Professor, if you don't mind I could use you out on the sales floor with Lee, since you two are the only ones who can legally do magic out of this lot. All you need to do is help customers, levitate product off of the high shelves and summon restock from the back room. Harry and Ron, you two work the registers. Don't worry, there is a price list up there. The registers are simple, just type in the amount of the items, total it, ring the sale up, put the gold in the drawer and give the customer their change. Got it, good. And Ginny, you are responsible for taking the advance orders for out of stock items or for large orders of fireworks and other magical mischief devices. There is a roll of parchment at the front desk, and a quill and ink, just write down the customer's name, how much of what they want, when they need it and whether or not they will be picking it up or would like it delivered. If they are picking it up, they don't have to pay till they pick it up, but if they want it delivered they have to pay now plus a 5 sickle charge for delivery."

Fred spewed this all incredibly quickly, and the only one who seemed to have any idea of what he was doing with Professor Lupin. Harry, Ron, and Ginny filed in behind the front desk, while Fred and George disappeared into the back. Lee hurried over between customers to say hello to them.

"It's horrible to say, but with this Fudge thing everyone is out to gossip, which leads to better business for us," he told Harry. "I expect we'll be pretty busy through the whole day. Fred already explained everything to you?"

"Yeah," mumbled Ron, who looked at the keys on the register like they were in another language.

For the first couple sales, they had to call Lee over to help them, but after awhile Ron and Harry got pretty good at the registers, and were having fun working. It was hard not to have fun in Fred and George's shop, when surrounded by prank and joke items of every assortment. And Fred and George hadn't been joking when they said business was good. Half way through the day the drawer was so packed with gold that they had to make a mid-day deposit at Gringotts, and by the end of the day it was packed full again. Ginny had also found herself surprisingly busy, taking orders for the Weasleys' Wildfire Wiz-Bangs fireworks for many parties, as well as other large orders for regular joke stuff for stores who wanted to carry the twins' merchandise. Professor Lupin seemed to shed years before them, thoroughly enjoying himself and proving to be as good a salesman as a teacher.

Although they didn't run into anyone they knew from Hogwarts, Ron, Harry, and Ginny recognized some of the younger students. One soon to be second year in particular seemed especially smitten with Harry. Ginny accidentally snapped a quill in half when she saw the girl leaning over the counter, flicking her hair as she flirted with Harry.

When five o'clock finally rolled around, the twins made another appearance on the sales floor to help lock up.

"Good job guys," said George, gazing at the now scantily stocked display cases and shelves. "All that is left is to restock the shelves before we leave and then to take the gold to Gringotts."

Restocking wasn't hard, Fred, George, Lupin, and Lee summoned the boxes from the back room, and everyone filled the shelves to overflowing for the next business day. George took the sack of gold destined for Gringotts and pulled out a hand full of Galleons. Stacking them in four piles of five Galleons each he said, "Okay, good work guys. Here's what we promised you."

Harry and Lupin looked slightly uncomfortable, almost simultaneously saying, "we don't want the gold."

The others looked at them incredulously.

"I did this for fun," continued Lupin. "I didn't expect to get paid."

"Same here," added Harry.

Fred looked at them both like they were crazy. "Well, I'll blame you if the Ministry fines us for not paying our workers."

"Well then you can pay it with our wages, couldn't you," replied Harry, laughing.

"Well you don't need to worry about us," said Ron as he and Ginny pocketed their stacks. "We are good little workers, we accept our pay."

Lee, Fred, and George headed off to Gringotts while Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lupin went back to Grimmauld Place.

Mrs. Weasley had dinner waiting for them when they returned, and Fred and George soon joined them as well.

Mr. Weasley seemed amused over Ron's and Ginny's new summer job and spent most of dinner asking them how they enjoyed working. Eventually he asked Lupin, "Remus, I haven't been seen my boys' shop yet, how are they doing in the business world from you point of view?"

Lupin laughed, "I had more fun today than I had in a long time. Fred and George are going to give Zonko's a run for their money, that's for sure." He paused slightly before continuing, a little more quietly, "If James and Sirius were still alive, they would probably proclaim the boys' store even better than Zonko's as far as quality of products go."

Fred and George looked both embarrassed and honored at his statement, while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed to beam with pride.

Harry, however, was only just now remembering the events of that morning. He blurted out, "has a new Minister of Magic been appointed?"

Mr. Weasley seemed a little surprised at the bluntness of Harry's question, but answered none the less, "No, not yet Harry. They went straight to Dumbledore, of course, that was expected. And of course, Dumbledore told them that his place was still at Hogwarts, with the students, but he did give them a rather lengthy list of people he would endorse as a new Minister. All are friendly to the Order, obviously."

Mrs. Weasley seemed to fidget excitedly in her seat. "Go ahead, tell him one of the people Dumbledore suggested. Tell them Arthur."

Mr. Weasley blushed deeply and mumbled quietly, "I was one of the people Dumbledore mentioned. One among many."

The kitchen erupted in sound, as every single person started congratulating Mr. Weasley.

"All right dad," Harry heard Ron say, "that'll sure singe Malfoy's broomstick, that will."

"Your father is not going to take the position just to show up the Malfoys," replied Mrs. Weasley.

Mr. Weasley however, didn't look like her shared that opinion. He had once gotten in a fist fight with Lucius Malfoy in the middle of Flourish and Blotts, and Harry knew his hatred of Draco was comparable to Mr. Weasley's dislike for Lucius.

"Well, regardless of the Malfoys," said Mr. Weasley, "I am deeply honored to have even been mentioned, but I have already told the committee that I feel that some of the other people Dumbledore named would be far better at the post than myself."

"Still," remarked Ron dreamily, "Malfoy's dad is in Azkaban and my dad has been asked to be the next Minister of Magic, life is fair."

"Oh, I just remembered," said Mrs. Weasley suddenly. "Harry dear, I'm supposed to relay a message to you. Professor Snape will not be able to stay after the next Order meeting for your Occlumency lesson, so he will be administering it before the meeting."

Harry had barely even thought about his next Occlumency lesson and it only served to dampen his spirits. "When is the next meeting?" he asked.

"On the 31st," replied Lupin uncomfortably.

What a lovely birthday present, Harry thought, a private lesson with Snape. Not even the Dursleys would have thought that up.

When Harry woke up on the morning of his birthday, he barely even remembered what day it was. He was so used to not having anyone acknowledge the day. Ron had already risen, leaving only a tangled mass of sheets to show that he had been there at all. Harry got dressed and walked downstairs, following a rather lovely scent from the kitchen. Everyone had already gone to work, leaving just Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley remaining in the kitchen. As soon as Harry entered, Mrs. Weasley stood up and gave him a tight hug, saying, "Happy Birthday Harry, dear." They were strange words to Harry, who although he had received cards from his friends before, had never heard those words in his life. On the table sat a small pile of cards and packages, but much more than Harry had expected.

"Hermione says she will be here tonight," reported Ron, "but she wanted me to say Happy Birthday from her anyway."

"Happy Birthday Harry," chimed Ginny as Harry sat down.

Mrs. Weasley put a heaping plate down in front of him, loaded with French toast, eggs, and sausage. As Harry ate he eyed the presents on the table.

Mrs. Weasley laughed and pushed the pile of cards and packages toward Harry. "Here, I think you can open and eat at the same time."

Harry tore open the first present and card. It was from Lupin. Inside the package was a miniature set up of a Quidditch pitch, complete with bewitched players and balls. Harry was immediately intrigued by it.

He read the card, which explained Lupin's absence.

_Harry,_

_I hope you have a very Happy Birthday. As your birthday corresponds with the full moon, I will not be able to be there to help you celebrate. I thought this quidditch model would come in extremely handy during the upcoming season for devising tactics and plays._

_-Remus Lupin_

"This is unbelievable," breathed Harry, who watched in wonder as the tiny players zooming across the small field.

The next package was from Ron, and was overflowing with candy and sweets of all assortments.

Lastly was a card and package from Ginny. When Harry ripped off the paper he found a handsome, leather bound photo album, but it was what was inside that took his breath away. Ginny had neatly compiled all the photographs and letters from Sirius' bedroom into the album. Harry hadn't felt such emotion over a present since Hagrid had given him a photo album of his parents in his first year.

"I picked the lock on your trunk to get them," Ginny explained quietly. "I hope that's okay?"

Harry finally found a tentative voice and answered, "thank you Ginny." Her gift contained so much heart that he had to fight not to start crying at the table. On a day that Harry knew he would not receive a gift or card from his godfather, Ginny's gift was bitter sweet.

Harry finished his birthday breakfast before carrying his presents up to his room. On the way back down he met Ginny on the stairs. After all that she had done for him the last few weeks, and now her present, Harry couldn't help but to see her differently than before, though he still wasn't sure what had changed.

"Harry, I'm sorry if it was too much, I didn't stop to think..."

"It's fine," replied Harry, "It's just that it's my birthday and Sirius isn't here, and it's..." Harry's throat closed around the words.

Ginny looked at him with a mixture of pity and sadness. Before Harry knew what happened, she had hugged him, kissed him on the cheek, and retreated to her room.

Harry's Happy Birthday only lasted through the early afternoon, and he was soon faced with another looming Occlumency lesson and the knowledge that he had not practiced at all. Harry knew that with all the emotion of the day thus far, Snape would have a very easy time breaking into his mind, so Harry began to mentally prepare himself even before Snape arrived. He had decided that the memory of the Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret, was what he would conjure up when his mind was invaded.

Snape was no more pleasant this lesson that he had been at any previous. "Let us see how you have improved over the last week, Potter. Have you been practicing like I instructed you?"

"Yes," replied Harry defiantly, but he knew by Snape's thin expression that the potions master did not believe him.

"I see we still need to work on shutting off emotions associated with lies. Prepare yourself, Potter. Legilmens!"

Harry did not have time to pull out his wand before the spell hit him. Instantly he could feel Snape's presence in his mind. As he felt Snape reaching for the nearest available memory, Harry brought up the image of Malfoy's transfiguration "lesson." It was like an enormous brick wall between Harry's mind and Snape's will. Harry was not sure how long they stood there, Harry forcing himself to think of only this one memory, while Snape searched for a way to break through. When Snape finally ended the spell Harry felt physically drained from the effort.

Snape gave Harry a once over before instructing, "follow me, Potter."

Harry felt too tired to argue, so he followed Snape out of the study and back downstairs where Order members were beginning to gather for the meeting. As they filed into the parlor room used for meetings, Snape located Dumbledore and had a brief conversation with him before telling Harry to wait out in the entrance way.

"What's going on, Harry?" Ron asked as he and Ginny came downstairs.

Harry shrugged, "I don't know. I had my lesson with Snape, and for once I actually did pretty well. Snape led me down here and he told Dumbledore something and then they went into the meeting. I'm supposed to wait out here."

Ginny look at Harry incredulously, "they're going to let you in, Harry! Snape must have been telling Dumbledore that you had mastered Occlumency!"

"But I haven't mastered it," retorted Harry. "I just managed to keep Snape from getting into my head for once, that's all. I still have to learn how to turn off all emotions and things, so that I can lie to Voldemort without him knowing, like Snape does."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens then," replied Ron, sitting down on the step next to Harry.

"Shall I go get a set of gobbstones?" asked Ginny.

She was half way up the stairs when Mr. Weasley stuck his head out from behind the door and beckoned to Harry. "Could we see you for a moment please, Harry."

Without hesitation, Harry crossed the threshold of a room Fred and George had spent over a year trying to break into.


	8. A Birthday to Remember

Chapter 8

A Birthday to Remember

The room in which the Order of the Phoenix conducted its most secretive business was set up very simply and logically. Harry felt confident the room had been magically enlarged because of the sheer number of people who seemed to fit comfortably into it. At the front of the room sat a single chair, facing dozens and dozens of identical chairs in neat rows. The members of the Order filled most of these chairs, but since the meeting had yet to officially start, passed the time chatting with one another. Professor Dumbledore stood at the front, one hand resting on the back of the single chair, while he spoke with Professors McGonagall and Snape. Looking around, Harry recognized many of the people in the room: Charlie, Bill, and Percy Weasley, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Mundungus, and Mrs. Figg, but there were about as many others whom Harry didn't know. One person, however, caught Harry's attention immediately: Hagrid.

Harry waved cheerfully to the huge man, who was talking with Mundungus. Hagrid excused himself from the conversation and came over to Harry, pulling him into a massive embrace.

"I would 'ad wished yeh 'appy birthday earlier, but yeh were still in yehr meetin' with Snape when I arrived," Hagrid explained.

"How's Gwap doing," Harry asked quietly, referring to Hagrid's giant brother.

"Oh, yeh know, he still needs some learnin' up 'fore I can take 'im anywhere, but he's gettin' there. He's better behaved now an 'is English is improvin'."

"Could I have everyone's attention please!" called Dumbledore loudly, bringing the meeting into session.

Harry began to feel nervous and unsure. It had only been two weeks since he had asked to join the Order, they couldn't be inducting him yet. But then, why would Snape have stopped their lesson, and why was he not being escorted back out to the entrance way?

Mr. Weasley sat down on an empty chair in the first row and indicated for Harry to take a seat beside him. Dumbledore remained the only person in the room still standing, and he looked around, waiting for complete silence.

"I am extraordinarily pleased to see that everyone got here safely," he began. "We have many orders of business today, but the first is to induct a new member."

Harry held his breath at this, afraid that when he breathed Dumbledore would name someone else.

"I motion to allow Harry Potter to become a full member of the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore continued, and Harry finally exhaled.

"I second the motion," spoke Mr. Weasley loudly.

"Motion has been seconded, is there any discussion on the topic?"

A witch Harry did not know stood up near the back and asked, "I presume then, that the boy has completed his Occlumency?"

"Severus, would you care to answer Dorith's question," asked Dumbledore?

Snape stood up, speaking in his usual cool tone to the assembly. "Potter has finally seemed to grasp the basic concept of Occlumency, and has managed for two lessons in a row to keep me from accessing his thoughts through a brick wall technique. However, he is far from complete in his abilities."

"Does that satisfy, Dorith, or would you like me to test the boy?" prompted Dumbledore patiently.

"It is not that I don't trust Severus, Albus, it's just that I worry about You-Know-Who's past ability to gain access to the boy's thoughts," replied Dorith.

"Would you please stand up Harry," Dumbledore instructed softly, "and face me."

Harry did as he was told, and Dumbledore raised his wand, preparing to cast Legilmens. But before he could, Harry felt someone else enter his mind. For a split second Harry panicked, thinking it was Voldemort, but he quickly pulled up the memory of Malfoy bouncing down the corridor as a white ferret, blocking the invader from going any further. Suddenly, and to Harry's complete surprise, he felt someone else burst into his memories, from a completely different direction. Grabbing the first memory that came to mind, he set up another wall, this time it was Professor Snape's boggart from Harry's third year. The second presence was stronger than the first, and Harry battled to concentrate on both walls. He switching his focus back and forth between memories so quickly that, had his eyes been open, he would have been dizzy. He desperately tried to recall how funny the scenes had been, but it was becoming exceedingly difficult, as his energy was already drained from his lesson with Snape. From somewhere he heard someone scream, "Stop!" and suddenly his mind belonged to him again.

When Harry's eyes refocused he realized he no longer stood, but he wasn't on the ground either. Hagrid had caught him under the arms as he had started to fall, and now supported him effortlessly. When he saw that Harry was conscious again, he helped him into a chair. Harry looked around, and saw Mrs. Weasley standing at the end of a row of chairs. She had her hands on her hips, staring daggers at Snape and Dumbledore. Harry realized it was her voice he'd heard command his tormentors to halt.

"There will be no need to worry about You-Know-Who getting into his mind if you two kill him first," Mrs. Weasley scolded, her face reddening. "Honestly, attacking him at the same time! From what I've heard it's hard enough repelling one, let alone two!"

"Molly, calm down," soothed Mr. Weasley, "Harry is far from dead."

"Yeah, I'm fine," added Harry softly, though he didn't think he had the energy to stand.

"Perhaps it was too much," replied Dumbledore to Molly, "but we had to test Harry. And in a way most like what he would face from Voldemort. I did not think he would put up that much resistance. Most adult wizards would crumble under that amount of pressure. I'm afraid I wanted to see just how much fight he had."

Most of the Order members stared at Harry while listening to Dumbledore. Harry noticed they wore expressions of mixed awe, fear, and surprise.

"So did I pass the test?" Harry asked weakly from his seat.

To his surprise most of the Order started laughing.

Dumbledore responded. "With flying colors, Harry. Had you spent any more energy and concentration you probably would have landed in the hospital. You proved that you would die rather than let Voldemort steal anything else from your mind." He turned to Dorith and asked, "did that satisfy you?"

"More than expected," she replied with a wry smile.

"Well, then is there any more discussion on the topic?"

No one answered Dumbledore so he continued, "then I move for a vote, do I have a second?"

"I second it," said another wizard Harry didn't recognize.

"Then may I see by a show of hands those in favor of Mr. Potter being inducted into the Order?"

Everyone in the room raised his or her hand, even Snape. Harry swore he saw just the briefest smile flirt across Dumbledore's face before he was all business again. "Now, may I see by a show of hands those who oppose Mr. Potter being inducted into the Order?"

Not one hand went into the air.

Harry definitely saw Dumbledore smile as he said, "motion passed. Will you please come up here, Harry?"

Pushing himself up out of his seat, Harry joined Dumbledore at the front of the room. Harry faced Dumbledore, putting the rest of the Order to his left.

"You are going to repeat an oath, Harry. You will be magically bound by it, so that I will know if you break any of the codes of the Order of the Phoenix. I stress that one of the rules is that you cannot discuss Order business with anyone who is not in this room, no matter how close you are to them or how much responsibility you think they have."

Harry realized Dumbledore was referring to Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins, all who would beg Harry to tell them what was going on in the meetings. He nodded that he understood the seriousness of the oath.

"Please repeat after me Harry," continued Dumbledore. "I solemnly swear to uphold the responsibilities and doctrines of the Order of the Phoenix."

"I solemnly swear to uphold the responsibilities and doctrines of the Order of the Phoenix," echoed Harry, his heart beating quickly.

"I swear to denounce the dark arts in all forms..."

"I swear to denounce the dark arts in all forms," repeated Harry.

"...and fight to protect both wizards and Muggles from evil intentions, even if it means giving up my own life to save others."

Harry repeated it.

"My loyalties and abilities now belong to the Order of the Phoenix from this day foreword."

"My loyalties and abilities now belong to the Order of the Phoenix from this day foreword," repeated Harry, thinking that at any time he would wake up. As the final word left his tongue, he felt a strange tingling sensation across every inch of his skin. It vanished as quickly as it arrived, but Harry knew it was the magic of the oath settling on him.

Dumbledore smiled widely. "Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix, Harry."

The other members started clapping, and Mrs. Weasley rushed over to hug Harry. Hagrid, with tears shining in his eyes, strode over to give Harry a rather painful pat on the back. Suddenly, a tide of people flocked around Harry, offering their congratulations. Those Harry didn't know introduced themselves, and he struggled to keep names and face straight. As the crowd slowly dispersed back to their seats so the meeting could commence, Harry looked over at Dumbledore. The head master displayed a calm, business like demeanor, but when Harry made eye contact, Dumbledore's eyes sparkled with pride.  
The moment, however, passed as Dumbledore cleared his throat and invited Snape to the front of the room. Harry hurried back to his chair, elated but also eager to be out of the spotlight.

Harry listened attentively as Snape relayed information he had obtained from Voldemort and the other Death Eaters. From what Harry gathered, it wasn't much more than what they had known previously. It appeared Snape had gathered a lot of information from Luscius Malfoy, but that had ceased since his imprisonment. Voldemort was waiting for the Ministry to make the next move, and until then he was encouraging his remaining Death Eaters to wreak as much havoc as possible among Muggles, keeping the Ministry busy with that instead of internal affairs. There was also talk of trying to help the Death Eaters, who had been caught at the Ministry earlier that year, escape from Azkaban. The dementors had left their posts to join with Voldemort, so Aurors now guarded the wizard prison. Snape knew at least one of those Aurors was secretly a Death Eater, but he didn't know who exactly. Voldemort was becoming suspicious that there may be a spy among his followers, and was guarding that information closely. Snape felt it would draw too much attention to himself if he started asking too many questions concerning the Auror contact.

Next, Kingsley Shacklebolt, a senior Auror at the Ministry who sat on the committee to choose the next Minister of Magic, walked to the front of the room.

"As we all know, the Ministry has been frantically trying to decide upon a new Minister of Magic. Tomorrow it will be released to the public that Amelia Bones has been chosen and has accepted the duties. We actually decided upon her several days ago, but because of the manner of Fudge's death we thought that we should keep it quiet for a few more days. In that time, the Ministry has performed charms and spells to protect Madam Bones from the same fate as her predecessor. As most of you know, Madam Bones is close to our cause, as her brother and most of his family were killed by Death Eaters during the first war."

Harry felt pleased with this decision. He had met Madam Bones last year during his disciplinary hearing, and she had been one of the few to support and believe him. Her niece had been in the DA and Harry liked both of them.

Next Mad-Eye Moody limped to the front of the room. With a swish of his wand, a chart appeared, hanging in mid air. It was clearly a map of London and the surrounding country side. It was covered with red and black letter 'x's.

"This is the updated map of Death Eater activities in and around London," growled Moody, pointing to the map with his wand. "The red are the newest targets. You will notice that all the attacks from the 25th are listed here. There is still no distinguishable pattern, which supports Snape's information that the Death Eaters are simply running amok. As for Azkaban, the Aurors know that there may be a plot to spring the prisoners, and are engaging in Constant Vigilance! After Snape's report today, I intend to implement a completely randomized process for assigning shifts at Azkaban. No Auror will know when he or she will be on duty until a few hours beforehand. Hopefully, that will prevent any double crossers from forming plans."

From the row behind him, Harry heard Tonks groan and mumble, "so much for a social life."

When the meeting ended over an hour later, Harry'd been briefed on the many attacks that had occurred during the week. He also learned of Charlie Weasley's efforts to drum up foreign support. Now that Voldemort had shown himself in public, Charlie reported his task had become much easier. Harry also got a sneak peak at the measures being implemented at Hogwarts for the coming year to keep the students safe.

When Dumbledore dismissed the meeting, a second wave of well wishers surrounded Harry. It was another half hour before he was able to step into the entrance way. Most of the Order had dispersed, though a few members remained, talking in small groups. It was Hagrid who stood out the most. He took up a huge piece of the entrance hall, as he chatted with Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Hagrid, could I ask you to stay a little longer?" inquired Harry. "Buckbeak hasn't been doing so well without Sirius, and we were hoping you could have a look at him?"

"O' course, Harry, right after dinner."

"Are you all staying?" Harry asked, surprised.

They nodded, and Dumbledore quipped, "only a fool would turn down an invitation from Molly."

"Shall we head to the kitchen, then?" suggested McGonagall as she locked the front door magically behind the final exiting Order members.

Harry trailed them into the kitchen, which was exceptionally dark that evening. The lights came on with a flash, the kitchen lit up and a chorus of, "Happy Birthday," rang out.

Blinking, Harry looked around in complete shock at over a dozen smiling, singing people.

The song had barely ended when he was tackled by a squealing, bushy haired girl.

"Oh, Happy Birthday Harry," squeaked Hermione, hugging him tightly. "Did we surprise you?"

Harry still couldn't find words. All he had expected he had gotten that morning. Looking around the kitchen, he saw a large banner with Happy Birthday Harry written across it, and gold and red streamers strung everywhere. Two more tables had been erected to accommodate everyone. Another large pile of presents and cards had appeared on the far table, along with a massive cake iced to look like a Quidditch field. The other table sagged under the weight of some of Mrs. Weasley's best cooking, just waiting to be enjoyed.

"I can't believe this is for me," Harry finally breathed.

"We figured you didn't get too many birthday parties at the Dursleys," replied Hermione with a huge smile.

Before Harry knew what was happening, he was sitting at the head of one of the tables, contently eating a lot of excellent food. Ron and Hermione sat on either side of him, and from there Fred and George along side Ron, and Ginny and Charlie next to Hermione. Bill faced Harry from the other end.

"I can't believe you got inducted into the Order!" George exclaimed enviously.

"So true!" replied Fred. "We've been trying to get in there for ages, and they let you in two weeks after you ask! Harry, what's your secret?"

Harry shrugged. "You'd have to ask Dumbledore that."

Once dinner was finished, Mrs. Weasley levitated Harry's presents over to him.

"Open ours first, Harry," ordered George, sliding a large box toward him.

Harry ducked as he pulled the lid off, half expecting something to come flying out at him. But instead he was pleasantly surprised to find that the box was chock full of supplies from the twin's shop. There were large packages of fireworks and Skiving Snackboxes, as well as Canary Creams, Ten Tongue Toffees, and just about everything else they sold.

"We figured that would prepare you just in case you got another Umbridge for Defense Against the Dark Arts," explained Fred with a grin.

"And if you have a nice professor, there is always the Slytherins," added George.

Bringing their voices down to whispers so the adults couldn't hear, Fred and George continued, "with us gone we are counting on you to continue the mayhem."

Next Harry opened Hermione's present, which not surprisingly, was a book. However, it was filled with Quidditch tactics and maneuvers, and Harry had a sneaking suspicion that she and Lupin had coordinated their gifts accordingly.

Bill also gave Harry a large book, which was filled with ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian curses.

"I thought that would come in handy for the DA," explained Bill. "Some of those spells would scare the Slytherins right out of their cloaks."

Harry smiled as he read a rather gruesome sounding spell and imagined himself casting it on Malfoy. Tonks handed Harry her present, a rather beat up book entitled, "So You Want to be an Auror- 50 Things You Must Know."

"That book saved my arse more than once during Auror training," smiled Tonks.

Moody had also gotten Harry a gift, a miniature version of an enemy mirror. Harry stared into the hand mirror, at the shadowy, but still unclear forms. They would become clearer, the closer his enemies came. It was no frivolous gift, and Harry appreciated it.

"What a wonderful gift, Mad-Eye," joked Tonks, "as if Harry doesn't already have enough to be paranoid about."

"The boy can never be too prepared," returned Moody with a growl, his electric blue eye turned to Harry. "You keep that on your bed side table, you hear me boy."

"Yes sir," replied Harry. It wasn't a bad suggestion.

Grinning, Charlie gave Harry a dragon hide satchel to carry gold, exclaiming, "it's Hungarian Horntail."

Percy presented Harry with a simple card saying Happy Birthday, but it was more than Harry had expected.

Hagrid plopped a roughly hewn wooden box in front of Harry. Half afraid he would open it to find some dangerous, baby creature, Harry cracked it open. Inside sat a miniature set of Quidditch balls, broomstick, and a goal post, all hand carved by the half giant.

Soon all that remained was a small box, wrapped in red and gold paper. There was no card to indicate who it was from. Opening it, Harry gasped to see a shockingly beautiful gold cloak clasp. It had been cast into the shape of a Phoenix and glittered with inlaid red rubies.

"All the original members of the Order of the Phoenix had one of those," said Dumbledore softly. "That one belonged to your mother. I thought it appropriate to return it to you on the day you were inducted."

Harry turned the golden phoenix over in his hands, pretending to examine it closely so that no one would notice his suddenly wet eyes. He hardly noticed the lights dim and Mrs. Weasley bring over the lighted birthday cake until Fred and George started up a round of, "for he's a jolly good fellow!"

"The cake and the party are Arthur and my gifts to you, Harry, now make a wish."

Harry wished Sirius was here to celebrate with him as he blew out the candles.

The cake had long been devoured when the party finally broke up. Harry thanked everyone profusely as the remaining Order members left. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Charlie, Bill, Percy, Fred and George stayed to clean up the kitchen, while Harry took Hagrid, Hermione and Ron to see Buckbeak. When Harry cracked open the door Buckbeak gave him the same expectant look as always, and when he saw that it wasn't Sirius, he let his head drop again.

"What's a 'matter, Beaky?" asked Hagrid, walking over to the Hippogriff.

Buckbeak's head rose when he head Hagrid's voice.

"Blimey, he remembers you," Ron stuttered.

"Hippogriff's have just as long o' memories as yeh an' me," replied Hagrid, who stroked Buckbeak's feathers, "which means he won't be forgettin' Sirius, but he don't understand that he aint comin' back."

"He hardly eats anymore, no matter what we try," commented Harry as he tried to tempt Buckbeak with a large, dead rat.

"He needs to get out o' here, get back to the wild," answered Hagrid. "I know o' a Hippogriff preserve, run by a friend o' mine. With Malfoy locked up and the Ministry with their hands full o' other problems, I don' think anyone would notice another Hippogriff."

"But Hagrid, how will you get Buckbeak out of Grimmauld Place?" asked Hermione.

"Hmm, it'd have to be by night. Ron do yeh think yehr brother Charlie would help out?"

"Probably," replied Ron. "He's still downstairs, you could ask him on your way out."

Hagrid looked thoughtful for a second before finally saying. "I'll do that, and contact my friend this week. I'll tell yeh what happens at the next meetin' Harry. Hang on Beaky, we'll get yeh out o' here soon as we can."

Harry left several dead rats in case Buckbeak decided he was hungry, then they left the room.

Hermione and Ron helped Harry carry his presents up to his room. Harry felt exhausted from the events of the day, but Fred and George were not about to let him go to bed quite yet. Just as Harry finished donning his pajamas and climbed into bed, Fred and George walked through the door, dragging Ginny and Hermione with them.

"You actually walked?" Ron sounded shocked.

"We haven't quite gotten the hang of Apparating with more than just us," replied Fred, pulling bottles of butterbeers from inside his robe and handing them out. "We didn't want to splinch the beverages."

After two butterbeers, Harry couldn't keep his eyes open and he soon feel asleep in mid conversation.

Harry again visited the Department of Mysteries in his dreams that night. He sat on one of the stone steps, staring at the veiled archway at the center. It fluttered violently, and Harry got up and walked down to the floor. The veil fluttered again, catching on the side of the arch, revealing the other side of the archway. Harry spied Sirius and his father standing together just beyond the boundary. His father wore a golden Phoenix clasp identical to the one Harry had been given that evening. Both James and Sirius held goblets and smiled broadly, celebrating something. Finally they looked up, directly into Harry's eyes. Eyes locked with his son, James touched the clasp at his neck and raised his goblet in a toast to Harry. Sirius did the same, except he used his wand to draw a golden 16 in the air. With that, the veil fluttered for a third time, loosening itself and falling again to its proper place as Harry moved into uninterrupted sleep.


	9. Diagon Alley Again

Chapter 9

Diagon Alley Again

The two weeks following his birthday were two of the best Harry had all summer. He attended his second Order of the Phoenix meeting, and eagerly awaited the third. In exchange for being in the Order, he continued working on his Occlumency with Snape, moving on to working at getting rid of emotions so that he could lie in front of Voldemort. Harry found this even more difficult than blocking off his mind, much to Snape's utter enjoyment. With one mention of James or Sirius, Snape could cause Harry to lose any control he had gained.

At the moment, however, Harry was not worried about Occlumency, or Voldemort, or anything else for that matter. He slept peacefully in a cozy bed, oblivious to the streaming sun shine and Ron's loud snores. That was until the mail arrived.

"Harry, Ron, wake up!" screamed Hermione, slamming their door loudly as she scampered into the room.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" asked Harry, sitting bolt upright in his bed and groping for his wand.

"Our O.W.L. scores have arrived!" she shrieked back, throwing an official looking envelope at him.

"Is that all?" mumbled Ron, rolling back over and sticking a pillow over his head.

"Don't you want to know what you got?"

"I don't need that piece of parchment to tell me that I failed miserably," came Ron's muffled reply.

"You want to know, don't you Harry?"

Harry would prefer to fall back to sleep, but curiosity slowly crept over him. Inside that envelope lay the answer to whether or not he would be able to become an Auror. "How did you do, Hermione?" Harry inquired as he slit open the top of his envelope.

"I'm too nervous to open it yet," she confessed.

Ron mumbled something incoherent from under his pillow.

"Well I don't see you tearing yours open either, Ronald."

"I already told you, I don't need a piece…"

"So how did you do, Harry?" Hermione cut Ron off in mid sentence.

Harry reached for his glasses and scanned the letter until he reached the list of grades. "Astronomy: A, Care of Magical Creatures: O, Charms: O, Defense Against the Dark Arts: O, Divination: P," at this Ron cheered, "Herbology: E, History of Magic: P, Transfiguration: E, Potions: E. How did I get an E in potions, I'm horrible at potions?"

"Luck?" suggested Ron, who finally emerged from beneath his pillow to thumb at his own letter.

Hermione shot Ron a dirty look and replied, "without Professor Snape taking out his personal grudges on you Harry, it should be very easy for you to do that well."

"So are you going to open yours?" Ron asked Hermione.

"You first," she replied as Ron rolled his eyes at her.

He pulled out a piece of parchment and read off his grades. "Astronomy: A, Care of Magical Creatures: E, Charms: A, Defense Against the Dark Arts: Bloody Hell, an O, thanks Harry, Divination: D, ha, beat ya Harry, Herbology: A, History of Magic: P, Transfiguration: E, Potions: A. Wow, I don't know how I did that well in Potions either Harry. Your turn Hermione."

Hermione, however, looked ashed. The letter shook in her hands. "I can't do it, I'm too nervous, too much is at stake."

"Oh give it here," snapped Ron moodily as he wrenched the letter out of her hands. Ripping it open he looked down it and paused for a moment. "You got an O in everything except Potions, there you got an A."

"I got what in Potions? How can that be? I wrote foot long essays for all those questions, I knew everything. There must be a flaw in the grading system." Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes.

"Relax, Hermione," growled Ron, "I was only having a bit of fun with you. You got an O in everything. Its disgusting, see." He shoved the paper back at her and Hermione angrily grabbed it.

"That was not at all funny Ronald," she barked, looking at her perfect scores.

"I thought it was," he retorted, knocking his scores onto the floor and rolling back over in bed. "Now if you don't mind, Harry and I would like to get some more sleep."

Hermione stalked out of the room in a huff, slamming the door shut behind her.

Harry and Ron exchanged amused looks. Harry pulled his blankets back up, snuggled down into his pillow and soon fell back to sleep.

When Harry and Ron finally crawled out of bed again, it was mid morning. They stumbled downstairs, rubbing their eyes and yawning.

"Well I'm glad to see you finally joined the world of the living," snapped Hermione, obviously still irked over Ron's joke.

Ron ignored her as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

Mrs. Weasley bustled over, reheating a plate of bacon with her wand before setting it down in front of Harry and Ron. "I see you received your school lists today," commented Mrs. Weasley. "I've already arranged it with Remus so that I can take you all to Diagon Alley next week to get your things. Aside from your list of supplies, is there anything else they sent you I should know about Ronald?"

She stared hard at Ron, unblinkingly for a few second before Ron grudgingly pulled his O.W.L scores out of his pocket. "Here," he said tensely, pushing them across the table to where his mother waited.

For a few moments, Mrs. Weasley scanned the list, emotionless. Then she silently crossed the room and gave Ron a tight hug. "I'm very proud of you dear. Not so good in Divination and History of Magic, but an O in Defense Against the Dark arts and passing in everything else! It seems being made a prefect has helped your grades."

Ron slouched in his seat as his face turned red. "Mum!" he groaned.

Harry laughed and pulled out his own letter to check his supply list. As he perused the usual list of items his eyes fell on the words: 1 set of dress robes.

"Ron," he said, "did you know we have dress robes on our list again this year?"

Ron hurriedly pulled his letter out again. "Ahh, bloody hell, I suppose that means we have another dreadful ball to attend."

"Balls aren't dreadful," said Hermione. "I had quite a lot of fun at the Yule Ball."

Ron went slightly rigid and mumbled something unrecognizable except for the name, "Vicky."

"Well at least Fred and George bought you new dress robes," said Harry, attempting to lighten Ron's mood.

"If it isn't mandatory, I'm not going," vowed Ron.

"Why do you think there will be a ball, Harry?" asked Hermione. "You don't think they could be thinking of bringing back the Tri-Wizard Tournament?"

Harry shook his head. "No, not after what happened last time. Besides, I would have heard something about it in an Order meeting."

"Did McGonagall send you anything about Quidditch," Ron asked curiously, leaning over to peek at Harry's letter.

"No, why would she?"

"Well, I thought, with Angelina having graduated, that McGonagall would make you Quidditch Captain."

It was the first Harry had considered it. "She probably named Katie Bell captain, she's the oldest."

"Yeah, probably," muttered Ron. "I just hope she isn't as bad as Angelina."

"Angelina was a walk in the park compared to Wood," laughed Harry.

* * *

Two days later, Ron and Hermione found Harry standing by himself in the entrance way.

"Whatcha doing Harry?" Ron whispered.

"Well, now that this place belongs to me, I was thinking of redecorating. Sirius wrote in his will that he would like me to tear the place down, because it would annoy his mother." Harry smiled to himself at the thought. "Since I can't destroy it yet, I think I'm going to get rid of all snake stuff and replace it with Gryffindor lions instead."

"That will please the lady of the house, that will," replied Ron sarcastically.

"That's the point," Harry grinned. "I've been wondering what to do with her as well. Fred and George's idea isn't sounding so bad anymore."

"What was Fred and George's idea?" Hermione asked apprehensively.

"Blow her portrait to kingdom come," replied Ron enthusiastically.

"Harry, you cannot blow a hole in the wall!"

"You sound like my mum! Harry can do what he wants, it is his house now."

"Harry, I hope you are thinking more logically than Ronald."

"Well, how else are we going to get rid of it," mused Harry. "I mean, it's permanently stuck to the wall. If we blow it up before she gets out of the frame we can collect the pieces of portrait, burn them, and then repair the wall."

"I don't think it needs to be that drastic," replied Hermione. "I still think Kreacher knows how to get it off." She paused for a moment, "that reminds me, where is Kreacher?"

Harry and Ron shuffled their feet uncomfortably.

"Umm, he was set free by the Order after what happened at the end of last term," lied Harry in what he hoped was a convincing way.

"They set him free!" exclaimed Hermione, looking more shocked than happy.

"Well, that's what you wanted Sirius to do all last year, wasn't it?" asked Ron, a bit confused.

"Yes, but that was before I saw Kreacher with Bellatrix Lestrange's picture, and before he lied to Harry, and before Sirius died. I thought Kreacher knew too much information to be set free, and he was definitely working with Malfoy."

"So, you're off this spew thing then?" ventured Ron.

"It's S.P.E.W., Ron, and no, I'm not off it, but Kreacher was fraternizing with dark wizards."

Harry and Ron looked uncomfortably at the floor.

"Umm, well then, if you promise not to go off about elvish welfare, then I guess we should tell you what really happened," stuttered Ron. "Tell her Harry."

Harry gaped at Ron momentarily. "You tell her, you're the one who told me."

"It's your house, so technically Kreacher was your elf, you tell her."

Glaring daggers at Ron, Harry finally stuttered out the truth. "The Order had Kreacher executed, Hermione."

"Well, I can't say that he didn't deserve it," replied Hermione.

Harry and Ron just gaped at her.

Finally Ron grabbed her shoulders firmly and demanded, "who are you and what have you done with Hermione?"

Hermione pushed Ron away. "I can change my mind if I want to Ron. And I do still think that Sirius should have treated Kreacher better, hold on Harry, don't blow up at me yet. " She put up a finger to stop Harry, who had gone rigid, from speaking. "Because if Sirius had treated Kreacher a little nicer, perhaps he would not have gone to Narcissa Malfoy, and not lied to you, Harry."

"But he did, Hermione," retorted Harry hotly, "he did, and he's the reason Sirius is dead. I'm sure if Sirius had known Kreacher would betray him, he would have hung his head on that wall the first week here."

Hermione and Ron didn't mention Kreacher again for the rest of the week, for fear of rekindling Harry's wrath. Ron and Hermione, however, weren't as naïve as they appeared. They knew there was something more than just Sirius' death weighing on Harry.

The day of their trip to Diagon Alley dawned gloomy and overcast. Mrs. Weasley herded everyone out of bed just a bit after seven, turning a deaf ear to their sleepy complaints. The only people who seemed to be awake were Mrs. Weasley, Percy, and Lupin. Bill and Mr. Weasley kept nodding off over their oatmeal, and Ginny had given up on breakfast, pushing her bowl to the side to lay her head on the table.

Prodding Ginny none too gently, while yelling at her husband and oldest son to get moving or they would be late for work, Mrs. Weasley served everyone breakfast. Harry drudged through his porridge, wishing he was still in bed. The dreary day did nothing to energize him, and he felt no more awake an hour later when he exited a fireplace into Diagon Alley.

The frenzied cart ride through the vaults of Gringotts woke Harry up slightly. He was shocked when the Goblin opened his vault door and he saw even more gold than usual. With a pang he remembered Sirius's inheritance. Embarrassment flooded over him, as he thought about the amount of money he had compared to the Weasleys. He knew even if he offered it, they would never accept any money from him, but he promised himself that someday he would find a way to repay them for their love and kindness.

The first stop on their shopping excursion was for dress robes. Mrs. Weasley promptly dragged Ginny off to a second hand robe shop, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed for Madam Milkin's Robes for All Occasions. Ron already had a robe that fit, but both Hermione and Harry needed new ones. Harry browsed through the selection and picked one out almost instantly. It was the same bottle green color as his first one. If it's not broken don't fix it, thought Harry, knowing that the bottle green color complimented his eyes. Hermione on the other hand, spent almost three quarters of an hour trying on robes of differing colors and examining herself in a large mirror before finally picking one.

"Okay, where too next?" she asked the boys, who had passed out in a pair of chairs while she shopped.

"Oh, are you finally done?" commented Ron, eying her bag. "Are you even going to show us what you spent all that time looking for?"

"No, actually," she replied with a wry smiled. "You'll have to go to the ball to see it."

Ron opened his mouth to argue, but Harry nudged him and gave him a look that clearly said not to push the topic.

Next was Flourish and Blotts bookshop.

"I can't believe I'm actually taking Potions," moaned Harry as he looked with disgust as his N.E.W.T. level book. "I don't know how Dumbledore talked Snape into letting me into the class with just an E, but I'm sure I'll pay for it later."

"At least you won't have to put up with Trelawney," reminded Ron cheerfully as he pulled an advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts book off a pile. "Harry, who's the new Defense teacher?"

Harry shrugged, "how would I know?"

"Well I just thought that maybe, sometime during one of those meetings someone might have mentioned something…"

"Unless our next defense teacher is Voldemort, I don't see why it would have anything to do with Order business," replied Harry in a whisper.

"I was just wondering," returned Ron defensively.

Now significantly burdened by their books, the trio made their way toward the Apothecary to get refills for potions class. After a brief stop at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream shop for lunch, they visited Fred and George.

The twins' joke shop was booming during the back to school season. Fred and George busily rang up sale after sale while Lee tried to restock shelves in between helping customers.

"You two are going to have your Prefect jobs cut out for you this year," smirked Fred during a lull. "You wouldn't believe how many Hogwarts students we've seen in here. The portable swamps are still very popular, though our portable tropical forests and deserts aren't doing too badly either."

Hermione blanched slightly at the idea of chasing around first years armed with portable deserts.

"Hey, have Mum and Ginny stop by and see us later," George yelled as Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way back onto the street.

They met up with Mrs. Weasley and a harassed looking Ginny in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ginny was begging her mother for a new broom, "But Mum, I'm going to try out for chaser this year. I can't compete on the old school brooms. I'll be laughed off the pitch."

Mrs. Weasley's reply was a most adamant, "no."

Ginny sulked for a few seconds until she spotted Harry and the others, then waved them over.

It was clear Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had spent most of the day bickering, so Mrs. Weasley left Ginny in their charge while she went off to do some shopping for herself. Ginny still gazed longingly at the brooms in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Hey Ginny," said Harry suddenly, remembering how surprised he had been when he had found out it had been her birthday the week before. "I never got you a birthday present, let's go in and see what they have on sale."

Ginny looked ready to throw her arms around Harry, but instead she smiled widely and walked boldly into the shop, with Harry and the others in tow.

"You're going to buy her a broom?" asked Ron incredulously.

"Well, she will probably be on the team this year, and she does need something better than what the school can provide."

"Wish I had the gold to buy a broom on a whim," Harry heard Ron sigh.

Ginny and Harry looked at the broom sticks on display inside the store. The new Nimbus and Firebolt series were much too expensive, but the Cleansweeps and Shooting Star models were on sale to make room for their new models coming out soon.

It didn't take long for a salesman to scurry over and assist them in their choice, but Harry was amazed at how Ginny handled the negotiations. She first steered the conversation toward the price of the Shooting Stars, but then she started pointing out the broom's limitations, especially compared to that of the Firebolt and Nimbus. By the time Ginny and the salesman were finished haggling, she had gotten the price of the broom down to nine galleons, almost five galleons below the sale price.

"Happy Birthday," Harry said brightly as he handed Ginny her new broom. "Where did you learn to haggle like that?"

Ginny smiled mischievously, "when you grow up shopping at second hand stores, you pick up a thing or two."

Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a very strange look when Ginny proudly showed her the new broom, but didn't say anything other than, "that was very sweet of you dear."

They finished off the trip with a stop at a stationary shop to get more ink, extra quills, and parchment. As they headed back to Fred and George's shop, Harry spied a quaint little store he hadn't noticed before.

"Hey, can we stop here for a few minutes?" he asked as he pushed open the door.

Fitz & Myers' Fixtures displaced just about anything a wizard could want or need for their home. An elderly witch and wizard sat behind an aging wooden counter, while a young man bustled around the sales floor.

"Hey, Harry, look at this," called Ron, who had been enthralled by a magical doorbell that could talk to visitors. "You can charm it to yell insults at some people and compliment others."

He pushed the display button and the bell squawked, "I told you that if you ever showed up here again, I would sic my house elf on you!"

Harry had to fight a very great temptation to buy the bell and charm it to say rude things to Snape when he came to Grimmauld Place for meetings.

"This is more what I was looking for," explained Harry, eying a section of metal door knockers. He spied one in the shape of a Phoenix near the top of the display, "that one, to be exact."

Harry found himself admiring door knobs in the shape of lions' heads, as well as some very beautiful candelabras, wall brackets, and chandeliers. He knew he didn't have enough gold to buy it all that day, but Harry had a very strong feeling that he would be visiting this shop frequently over the next couple of years. He left with the pewter Phoenix shaped door knocker.

_I'm going to turn Grimmauld Place into a fitting place for the Order of the Phoenix,_ Harry thought silently, _and erase any evidence of the dark wizards who lived there before me._

* * *

A/N: According to J.K. Rowling, Ginny's birthday is on August 11, which in my story would have made it the day before they received their O.W.L. scores and approximately a week before they go shopping at Diagon Alley.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As Harry passed through the magical barrier that separated the Muggle Kings Cross from platform 9 ¾ he felt the familiar contentment to know he was going back to Hogwarts. This year however, there was just the smallest twinge of sorrow to be leaving Grimmauld Place behind. Since Sirius had died and left him the estate, Harry had grown very attached to it. He felt proud knowing he was slowly fixing it up. The members of the Order of the Phoenix had loved the new door knocker Harry had hung on the door, and when Harry asked their opinions about fixing up the rest of the house most had enthusiastically welcomed the idea.

"You'd better get a move on Harry, or you'll miss the train," Lupin said to Harry urgently, yanking him out of his thoughts. Harry felt rather foolish when he realized he had just been standing in the same place for the last few minutes, lost in thought.

As Harry stepped onto the train he looked back onto the platform sadly. Mrs. Weasley, Charlie, Lupin, Tonks, and Fred and George were there, waving good-bye to him. He blinked hard against tears remembering that one year ago exactly, Sirius had been there too, disguised as a dog, playfully chasing after the train. He knew that he was stepping onto a train that would not only take him away from the Muggle world, but also into a new year; a year without Sirius, without letters, without fireside chats, without advice, without the love of the closest person to a father Harry had ever known.

"Come on, Harry," urged Ginny, who was pulling him down the corridor. "We'll be lucky to find a cabin at this point."

They were half way down the train, after having walked by many full cabins, when they heard a familiar voice yell, "Hey Harry, Ginny, over here, I saved us a cabin."

"Hi Neville," replied Ginny, dragging her trunk through the door way, followed by Harry. It was evident by the things already in the racks that Ron and Hermione were in that cabin as well, but had already headed up to the Prefect car.

"Who's stuff is this?" Harry asked as he heaved his trunk up next to one he couldn't identify.

"Luna Lovegood's," replied Neville, "she's up at the front as well. She's been made a Ravenclaw Prefect."

The DA back together once more, Harry thought amusedly as he stowed Hedwig away next to a croaking box, which Harry suspected held Neville's toad Trevor.

"Mum was a little disappointed that I didn't get made Prefect," said Ginny with a smirk, "but I'm not. I know I take after Fred and George. Hey Neville, want to see the broom Harry bought me." Ginny grinned ear to ear every time she mentioned her new broom.

Neville looked at Harry strangely before replying, "Sure Ginny."

Half an hour later, Ron, Hermione, and Luna returned. Hermione had an enlightened look upon her face, while Ron just looked bored and harassed. Luna was still looking dreamily and had a copy of the Quibbler clutched in her hand.

The train ride was uneventful, and Harry was very much looking forward to the feast when the scarlet steam engine finally hissed to a halt in Hogsmead. Emerging into the cool evening air, Harry listened for Hagrid's familiar cry of, "Firs' years this way!" He wasn't hard to miss, as Hagrid was standing in the middle of the platform with a large lantern raised high above his massive body.

"All righ' there, Harry," Hagrid yelled after Harry waved to him.

They made their way to the waiting carriages, where impatient thestrals were pawing the ground.

"Are those things still there?" Ron asked.

"Yes," replied Harry, Neville, and Luna simultaneously as they all crawled into an empty carriage.

As usual, Hogwarts was sparkling against the black night, welcoming and warm against the darkness. Harry's eyes were drawn to the tallest tower where two years ago he had helped to rescue Sirius.

_What was it all for? What was the use?_ Harry thought bitterly. _What was the use if he was just going to die anyway? _

That annoying voice at the back of Harry's mind piped up again. _Because it gave you two years you wouldn't have had otherwise, that's what._

"Harry. Harry!" Ron was shouting in his ear. "Harry, are you coming or not?"

Harry shook his head clear. The carriage had stopped at Hogwart's great oak doors. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginny were staring at him from outside the carriage.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, heaving himself out of the carriage.

They joined the stream of other students entering the castle and headed toward the entrance to the Great Hall. However, before they could get there Harry heard someone else calling his name.

"Mr. Potter, may I have a word with you please?" asked Professor McGonagall who was standing just outside the Great Hall.

"Ummm, sure" replied Harry, who shrugged to Ron's questioning look. "Don't you have to meet the first years?" Harry asked once he reached McGonagall.

"Don't you worry about what I need to be doing, Mr. Potter," she replied tersely, "but I do need to be meeting up with them, so I'm going to need you to walk with me. What I need to tell you may take awhile."

Harry was now thoroughly confused. He thought that perhaps something Order worthy had occurred during the train ride and she was there to fill him, but he was not at all prepared for what McGonagall would say next.

"Potter, I would like to talk to you about the DA."

"I understand if you don't want me to continue the DA this year," started Harry. "I only set it up last year so we could pass our O.W.L' s while that horrible Umbridge…"

"Potter, we don't want you to disband the DA, quite the opposite actually."

"So you want me to run the DA like any other club at Hogwarts?"

"Not exactly," replied McGonagall, leading him back across the large entrance way. "You see, Potter, we couldn't find anyone to take the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. No one wants the position, and the Ministry is so overwhelmed right now that they can't trouble themselves with appointing someone to it."

"I don't understand."

"We want you to continue the DA, but not as an extracurricular club, instead during the time periods in which there would usually be Defense Against the Dark Arts classes."

Harry stood still for a moment, trying to process what he had just been told. Finally he managed to stutter, "you're asking me to be a teacher?"

"I'm asking you to do exactly what you did last year, but not in secret and not once a week, but everyday and with the entire school."

"There is no way the Slytherins would sit idly by and let me teach them," replied Harry with a hollow laugh.

"There would be a professor sitting in on every class you teach," McGonagall replied, "who would ensure the class stays respectful. We have even worked the classes you would be taking in a way in which you would be able to attend Defense Against the Dark Arts times."

They were now standing to the side of the massive front doors, through which a few last minute stragglers were hurrying. Harry still couldn't believe what Professor McGonagall was asking him.

"Professor," he began slowly, "why are you asking me to do this when there are going to be teachers sitting in on every class anyway? If they are going to be there anyway, why not have them teach?"

"The problems with having a different professor teach every class, Potter, is that the breadth of their knowledge of the subject differs. The students wouldn't be learning the same thing, and then next year, when there are new classes, we wouldn't know who learned what and how. If you instruct them, like you did your peers last year, we would know what the students in each year learned, and then next year, when we hopefully do find a professor to teach the class, he or she would know exactly what the students have learned."

Harry was still slightly shocked as he watched Professor McGonagall close the doors in preparation for the arrivals of the first years. "Professor, I'm only 16!"

"And you've already faced You-Know-Who more times than most adult wizards and lived to tell about it, Potter. You have a legacy that every student in this school knows about, and you keep adding to it. You could command a great deal of respect and awe, especially from the younger students Potter. Think about the times we are living in. You-Know-Who has returned, and he's not just going to go after the Muggle borns and the half bloods, but anyone who would resist him. What we are asking you to do here, Potter, is to teach the students how to defend themselves so that they can stand up to those following Him."

Harry looked at Professor McGonagall strangely, "What you are saying sounds eerily like you are having me train a real Dumbledore's Army."

The sound of many feet and nervous voices could be heard growing louder from the other side of the door.

"Not an army for Dumbledore, Potter," said McGonagall dryly, "but an army for the wizarding world."

Three sudden loud bangs from the other side of the doors caused Harry to jump slightly. McGonagall immediately reached out, swinging the doors wide open, and a gang of scared looking first years emerged, stopping dead when they saw McGonagall and Harry.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid ceremoniously.

McGonagall launched into a speech very much like the one Harry recalled from his own first year, but many of the students didn't seem to be paying much attention to her. Harry could see a few people pointing at his forehead, while others were whispering excitedly with their neighbors. Harry was able to pick up a few snippets; "yeah, _the_ Harry Potter," "him and You-Know-Who," "can you see the scar?"

What Professor McGonagall had just said reverberated back inside his head, "You could command a great deal of respect and awe, especially from the younger students Potter."

Professor McGonagall also seemed to notice that the first years had not given her their full attention as well. Ceasing her speech about the four houses of Hogwarts, she turned to Harry. "I think it would be best if you joined the others in the Great Hall," she said quietly. "We can speak more after the feast."

Harry nodded, "Yes, Professor," and walked quickly back toward the entrance hall. Behind him he heard Professor McGonagall clear her throat loudly several times before beginning again, "Now as I was saying. The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin."

The doors to the Great Hall were now closed, but the roar of all the students inside could easily be heard from outside. Harry tried to ease the doors open just enough to slip in unnoticed, but the hinges had not been oiled in a very long time. The students inside all turned when they heard the squeaking of the doors, expecting to see the first years entering. Instead, Harry entered alone, feeling his face flush deeply. He walked quickly to the Gryffindor table, where he slipped into a seat next to Ginny and across from Ron and Hermione.

"What was that about," Hermione whispered instantly.

"I'll tell you later," replied Harry, who was starting to feel like he had just dreamed the last conversation. Around him he could hear the other students going back to their previous conversations and the noise became deafening again. Harry looked up toward the staff table, hoping to catch Dumbledore's eye, but he was in deep conversation with Professor Flitwick.

"Snape doesn't look at all happy, does he, Harry?" asked Ginny, following Harry's look.

_I wouldn't be happy either if a 16 year old had just stolen the job I'd been after for years,_ Harry thought to himself. _Potions is going to be hell this year._

Again the doors to the Great Hall opened, and Professor McGonagall marched in, leading the group of first years. In her hand was clutched the Sorting Hat and a stool. Lining the first years up in front of the staff table, Professor McGonagall set the stool down in the center and placed the Sorting Hat upon it.

A hush fell on the students, who waited for the hat's usual song. Finally the rip at the brim opened and the hat began its lament,

"At the birth of our fair school,

Four founders swore to be forever friends,

From Slytherin to Gryffindor,

And Hufflepuff to Ravenclaw.

They promised to teach,

Who they thought was best,

And instill upon their students,

The ideas that each most stressed.

So Slytherin took those

Whose heritage was pure.

And Gryffindor sought those

With courage and heart.

While fair Ravenclaw taught

Those with the most smarts.

While Hufflepuff accepted all the others.

But then things began to go astray,

As the once united school

Split into civil strife.

For each wanted to be head,

For they thought their own

Attributes were the best.

Till finally in one last bout,

Slytherin decided to get out.

And suddenly the four founders

Were now down to three.

And forever now has the school

Been divided with disunity.

Now the past is always doomed

To repeat itself again.

Presently we have entered

A crossroads in time.

For Hogwarts is being threatened

From foes outside and in,

And unless we learn to stand together,

Our side surely will not win.

And although I must part you,

It is my cursed deed,

I can still impart some wisdom

To those willing to heed.

Your differences may be many,

But not for better or for worse.

The houses must come together,

Find the secret within these walls,

In order to prevent Hogwarts

From splitting at the seams."

The song finished and the students and teachers broke out in applause, but for the second year in a row the students were whispering hurriedly to each other.

"Well, at least it kept with the same theme as last year," said Ron sarcastically.

"Things must be worse than we know for a hat to be worried," commented Ginny.

Harry was busy trying to gauge Dumbledore's reaction to what the hat just sang, but the old wizard's face gave away no hints.

The Sorting began, and slowly the names of all the first years were read out and they placed the Sorting Hat upon their heads. Each house cheered as new students were sorted into that house. Finally the last first year was sorted into Gryffindor, amid wild cheers from Ron that they could finally start the feast.

Dumbledore got to his feet as McGonagall cleared away the Sorting Hat and stool. "There is much to be said this year," he began, "but I believe it will all be better heard on full stomachs. So let the feast begin!"

Instantly the tables were filled with plates and plates of scrumptious food, which everyone eagerly dove into.

"So, are you going to tell us what McGonagall wanted to talk to you about?" asked Ron through a mouthful of baked chicken.

Harry glanced at the people sitting around them and shook his head, "I'll tell you once we are in the common room. I still need to talk more with Professor McGonagall after the feast. She didn't want to talk in front of the first years."

When everyone had finished dessert and the food had been magically cleaned off, leaving only sparkling gold plates and chalices, Dumbledore again stood before the school.

"Now that we are all happily fed, I ask that you humor an old man a little longer while I give some start of term announcements. First, as I'm sure you are all wondering why dress robes again appeared on your supply lists, there will be a ball on Halloween. This time, it is open to the entire school, and not only are you encouraged to go and have fun, it will be mandatory."

At this, many of the boys groaned loudly, while the girls giggled to each other excitedly.

Dumbledore raised his hands and once again silence fell. "Your head of house will give you more information closer to Halloween. Secondly, I must enforce upon all first years that the Dark Forests is off limits to all students, and it would be wise of you to heed that particular rule. Lastly, Mr. Filch, our caretakers, has amended his list of contraband items over the summer break to now include many Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products. If you wish to see the entire list it is on display in Mr. Flich's office."

Most of the Gryffindor table had cracked into loud laughter at his announcement.

"Wait till Fred and George hear their products have been deemed illegal," giggled Ginny.

"Their sales will go way up now that Filch has banned them," laughed Ron.

Dumbledore continued after the laughter subsided, "Now, Prefects, if you would please lead your houses back to the dormitories. Tomorrow will be a busy day."

The Great Hall erupted back into noise as the students stood up and started talking again.

"What's the password?" Harry asked Ron before going to find McGonagall again.

"Felix Felicis," replied Ron.

"Come on," Hermione urged Ron, "we have to round up the first years."

"I'll see you later," shouted Harry as he started to fight his way through the mass of students heading for the door. When he reached the teacher's table, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were just rising to leave.

"You wanted to speak some more, Professor?" Harry asked as he approached.

"Yes, Potter," she replied. "The Headmaster has kindly offered his office."

They exited through the side chamber and out into the entrance hall. A steady stream of students from the Great Hall was winding their way up the stairs to the dormitories. Harry followed McGonagall and Dumbledore up the spiral staircase into his brightly lit office. He was greeted by Fawkes, who flew over to perch on his shoulder. Harry silently wished the bird's magical tears could heal psychological wounds just as well as they could heal physical ones.

Dumbledore took his seat behind his desk, while McGonagall and Harry sunk into the cushy armchairs in front of his desk.

"I understand you have some reservations about continuing the DA during class periods, Harry," said Dumbledore, gazing over his half-moon spectacles.

Harry nodded. "I just don't know if I can do it, between Quidditch, and my other classes. And how am I going to learn Defense Against the Dark arts for the N.E.W.T.S. if I am too busy teaching others?"

"Firstly, Potter, you would be surprised how much you will learn while researching defensive magic on order to teach it. You have an advanced Defense book, which you can use to teach yourself and then to teach the classes with. Which, by the way, only 5th years and above have a book," added Professor McGonagall. "You are free to teach 4th years and below whatever curriculum you like, just as long as you approve it weekly with Professor Dumbledore."

"And as for your learning, although I know it means more work, a weekly foot long essay will be due to Professor McGonagall on new spells that you have learned. That is how you will get your grade in Defense Against the Dark Arts," put in Dumbledore softly.

"But won't the parents be unhappy that their children are learning from another student?" Harry asked, "Especially those who don't particularly like me as is?"

Dumbledore smiled. "As long as your lesson plans are approved by me each week I don't see what problem the parents could have. It is as if I would be teaching the class if I've approved what is being taught. And the school governors have already been informed and have approved the measure, so you needn't worry about them either."

"Can I have a sort of trial period then?" Harry asked heavily, feeling himself cave into the pressure. "So that I can be sure I can handle doing this teaching thing along with Quidditch and my other classes?"

"Absolutely," replied Dumbledore wholeheartedly. "Lets say, that after the first two weeks of term, if you decide that you can't handle it with your work load the professors will take over for you."

Harry nodded in agreement, "then when is my first class?"

"Tuesday," replied McGonagall.

"So by tomorrow I will need to see lesson plans," said Dumbledore.

Harry nodded as he inhaled deeply; he knew he was embarking upon something no other Hogwarts' student had ever done.

"Oh, and one more thing before you go to bed, Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "You are still a member of the Order of the Phoenix here. So you will still be taking your Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape. Also, since it is not practical for you to go back to Grimmauld Place for every meeting, when you come to see the Headmaster to approve your lesson plans it will also serve as a meeting to fill you in on what has been going on in the Order. That way, no one is suspicious as to why you are meeting with Dumbledore so often, since it is only to approve your plans for the DA."

When Harry crawled through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room it was almost empty except for two people, sitting close together by the fire.

They jumped apart when Harry entered, causing him to stifle a laugh.

"So what did McGonagall want to talk to you about?" asked Hermione, trying to hide her curiosity.

"Well, you remember when Ron asked me who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be?"

"Yeah," Ron and Hermione replied simultaneously.

"Well, I found out and you are never going to guess who it is," Harry answered with a smirk.

"I can't believe they made you a teacher!" Hermione exclaimed half an hour later after Harry finished telling them everything he, McGonagall, and Dumbledore had spoken about.

"Why, jealous they didn't pick you instead?" inquired Ron.

"No, Ron," Hermione retorted hotly. "I think Harry is a perfect candidate for the position. He did do a wonderful job last year in the DA."

"Yeah, but I'll kinda miss the covert meetings, sneaking past Umbridge, using the magical galleons, the Room of Requirement," sighed Harry. "It didn't seem so much like teaching last year, but doing something to counteract Umbridge."

"Well, think of this as doing something to counter act You-Know-Who," suggested Ron.

"Voldemort," corrected Harry automatically. "You'd think that after hanging around with me for all these years I'd have broken you of that habit."

"Old habits are hard to break," mumbled Ron who really didn't seem to want to change the habit at all.

Harry grinned at him, "You just gave me an idea for what my first lesson will be."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The next morning dawned much too early for Harry as he groggily pulled back the heavy curtains from around his four-post bed. Ron was stretching in mid yawn in the bed across from him, while Neville was tiredly fighting a loosing battle to his shirt sleeve across the room.

"Can it be the weekend yet?" Ron asked as he fell back onto his bed.

"I wish," commiserated Harry half way through pulling on his pants. "But we'd best hurry up or we won't have time to eat this morning."

The thought of food seemed to energize Ron enough to get dressed. Picking up their bags and books, he and Harry headed down the spiral staircase and out the portrait hole.

Hermione was waiting for them in the Great Hall, a half eaten piece of toast on the plate in front of her. She seemed to be lost in that day's copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Anything interesting happen over night?" Harry asked as he sat down beside her and craned his neck to look over her shoulder.

Hermione nodded as she slapped the paper down onto the table. On the front page was a picture of an empty cell in Azkaban Prison, which was surrounded by ministry wizards.

"There was a mass breakout last night," replied Hermione to Harry's unasked question. "A group of Death Eaters stormed the place, killed a lot of the Aurors there, and sprung all the Death Eaters, including Malfoy."

"Bellatrix too?" breathed Harry.

Hermione nodded.

"I knew I should have killed her when I had the chance," he growled.

"Was anyone we know hurt?" asked Ron.

"Tonks and Mad-Eye weren't there when it happened, but Kingsley Shacklebolt was hurt pretty bad. He's at St. Mungo's now. They lost a lot of good Aurors though," replied Hermione quietly. "I'm sure Harry will learn more about this when he goes to see Dumbledore later."

Harry was looking over at the Slytherin table with sheer contempt on his face. "Malfoy looks rather chipper this morning, wonder if he was involved."

"Wouldn't put it past him," replied Ron.

"I don't think he's a Death Eater," commented Hermione, "at least not yet. There is no way he could get to Azkaban last night and back again without anyone knowing. He wouldn't try it under Dumbledore's watch."

Despite Hermione's logical argument, Harry still couldn't help but wonder if, under the sleeve of his robe, Malfoy was now sporting the Dark Mark.

Harry's mind was pulled back to his own table as McGonagall started handing out schedules. Peering down at his, he saw more things scheduled than Hermione had in her third year. Spread throughout Tuesday, Thursday, and some of Friday were all the Defense Against the Dark Arts courses. It only then occurred to Harry just how much work this would be. There were seven years, and the classes were divided into two houses each, but that still left fourteen classes that needed to be taught. Harry was grateful that Dumbledore had cut back the number of Defense Against the Dark Arts classes any student would take per week to one, but it didn't alleviate the overwhelming feeling that was swelling over Harry.

It didn't help that, at that moment, Katie Bell strode over to tell Ron and Harry that Quidditch tryouts for the new Gryffindor Chasers was going to be at 6 on Friday, and that Harry should try not to get detention this year.

"I didn't _try_ to get detention last year," Harry shouted as she left to go tell the other members of the team.

Harry and Hermione's first class that morning was double potions, much to Harry's displeasure, and he was in a very bad mood two hours later as he headed toward Transfiguration.

"You should have _heard_ him Ron," Harry vented, "he all but said I was in the class because Dumbledore made him let me in. All those insinuations about 'some of you will find you do not deserve to be in this class' and 'more matters in potion making than just scores on an exam."

"That's why I'm not taking potions this year, mate," replied Ron none too helpfully.

"At least we know McGonagall is fair," said Hermione, attempting to change the topic as they walked into Transfiguration.

Harry, however, was still seething from potions class. He didn't even realize it until he nearly broke the tip off his quill by pressing so hard against the parchment as he copied notes from Professor McGonagall.

Lunch was a welcome relief, and Harry was finally starting to cool off from his earlier episode with Snape.

"You shouldn't let it bother you Harry," cooed Hermione. "Professor Snape acts just like Malfoy; he wouldn't say those things if he knew it didn't bother you."

"But he's an Occlumens, Hermione," replied Harry irritably. "He can sense it when I get angry, I can't shut off emotions yet."

"Well, maybe if you tried…"

"I don't want to talk about it Hermione!" Harry shouted.

The day ended much better than it began, with Harry and Ron lounging in front of the common room fire playing Wizard's Chess while Hermione busily worked on homework.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt for you two to start on your homework," she prodded.

"If I thought about school work as much as you did," replied Ron, as he sent his knight to pummel Harry's bishop, "my head would explode."

Hermione gave him a disapproving look before turning back to the essay she was working on.

An hour later, Harry was walking down a quiet corridor toward Dumbledore's office to get his lesson plans approved. A rustling behind him startled and he turned to see Filch entering the corridor from behind a tapestry.

"What are you doing out here?" he snarled at Harry.

"Going to see Dumbledore," said Harry with an airy tone, knowing full well he had every right to be outside the common room since curfew hours hadn't set in yet. "Did you hear he wants me to continue my DA group during regular class periods? I have to go have him approve my lesson plans for tomorrow."

Filch glared at Harry for a few seconds, before turning on his heels and heading in the other direction, looking for another hapless student he could pin a detention on.

Harry approached the stone gargoyle that guarded that entrance to Dumbledore's office. "Sherbert Balls," he said, and the gargoyle jumped aside to expose the moving staircase.

At the top, Harry knocked on the door, and was invited in. Dumbledore had apparently been talking with the portraits of the past Hogwarts Headmasters about the events of that day, a Daily Prophet lying open on his desk.

"How is Kingsley doing?" Harry asked after seeing the article.

"The Healers think he will recover," replied Dumbledore in his usual soft tone, "but that may take many months. Too many good wizards were lost; it not only hurts the defense department of the Ministry, but also morale in the wizarding world."

Harry must have looked confused by the statement, because Dumbledore continued to explain.

"The fight against Voldemort isn't just spells and curses, Harry, but also a mind game. You've experienced his supporters, how conceited and arrogant they can be, they don't see failure as a possibility. That is a weakness, but also a strength. Voldemort's Death Eaters are blind fighters, who will follow him anywhere, no matter what the odds appear to be. When they attacked the fortress of Azkaban, which I highly expected them to do, they sent a clear message to the ordinary people in our world. The Ministry has been sending out guides to elementary self protection, as well as campaigning that the fight against Voldemort starts on a personal level, by rejecting him and his supporters. But when people see Aurors dying, the wizards who are the very best at fighting Dark Wizards, they begin to think that if an Auror can be killed by a Death Eater, then they don't stand much of a chance."

"So attacking Azkaban wasn't just to spring the Death Eaters there, but a show of force as well?" Harry asked.

"Exactly," replied Dumbledore. "It all comes down to how united each side is. Voldemort seeks to divide the wizarding world by creating so much fear that no one will dare stand against him. That is one of the reasons we decided to have another ball this year."

"To keep Voldemort from creating fear?"

"To keep the school united, Harry. Instead of the competitions that exist between the houses, with points, Quidditch, and the House Cup, we wanted something that brought the houses together. A ball seemed like a good idea."

"That sounds very much like what the Sorting Hat sang about," commented Harry.

"It does," replied Dumbledore with twinkling eyes. "I know many wizards my age who could use some advice from that hat. But on to other business, I suppose you are here to have your lesson plans approved."

Harry nodded and handed Dumbledore the parchment on which he had written what he was planning on teaching to the classes for the rest of the week.

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes sparkling, as he read what Harry had written. Finally, signing it with a flourish from his quill, he handed it back to Harry. "I don't believe any of our past Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers has tried this approach, Harry."

The next morning, Harry felt like he had right before his first ever Quidditch match.

"I'm not hungry, Hermione," he said forcefully as she waved a bacon sandwich under his nose.

"It'll be just like the DA, mate," put in Ron, trying to calm Harry's nerves.

"Except the DA members had volunteered for me to teach them," came Harry's reply. "Not every student in this school wants me to teach them."

"Well, what's your first class, Harry?" asked Hermione; finally giving up on trying to force feed him.

"A group of first years," Harry answered.

"Well there you go, first years don't know anything," added Ron enthusiastically. "It'll be a cake walk."

Harry was sincerely hoping Ron was right as he waited in the empty Defense Against the Dark Arts room. It was tiny Professor Flitwick who first entered the room, followed shortly by some first years. He and Harry conversed in the front of the room, while first years slowly filled up the room. When the bell rang, Professor Flitwick excused himself to a seat in the back of the room. The first years, a mixture of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, seemed confused as to why the Professor was sitting in the back.

Harry stood in front of his class, taking a few deep breaths before finally clearing his throat to get their attention and launching into his prepared speech. "My name is Harry Potter, and in lieu of an actual Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Headmaster Dumbledore has asked me to instruct you. This is not my first time teaching other students, as last year I ran a club called the DA- for the Defense Association or Dumbledore's Army- where I taught spells and curses that could be used against Death Eaters. Ok, now, before we start I just have to take roll."

Harry pulled out the parchment he had been given with all the students' names on it and read them off, listening for a reply of, "Here." _So far so good_ he thought before going back to his lesson plans.

"Ok, so for today I thought we would start with basics, the very basics. Who is the wizarding world fighting against right now?" Harry asked.

The students looked as though they thought it was rhetorical at first, but finally one girl raised her hand.

"Ok, good, uhh," Harry consulted the list of students again, "Sara, right?"

The girl nodded before replying, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"Wrong," replied Harry smugly, trying not to laugh at the girl's expression. She looked like Hermione did when she found out she was wrong. "Anyone else have a guess?"

A few more hands raised in the room. "Ok, umm, Justin," said Harry, pointing to a Ravenclaw boy.

"You-Know-Who."

"No," replied Harry, "anyone else."

"The Dark Lord?" asked a boy from the back.

"No," replied Harry again. "Anyone else think they know?"

Half his class was now looking very confused, while the other half was looking like they thought Harry was crazy.

"We are at war against Voldemort," said Harry, noting that everyone in the room winced at the name. "Or, if you prefer, you can call him Tom Marvolo Riddle, which was his given name. If you mix up the letters you get 'I am Lord Voldemort,' which is exactly how he thought up the name. So from now on, at least in this class, you are to refer to him as Voldemort. No more saying, 'You-Know-Who,' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.'"

A girl from Gryffindor raised her hand tentatively, "but saying his name will bring a curse upon you."

"Saying his name will no more bring a curse upon you as not catching the snitch at a Quidditch game will," replied Harry. "The only thing not saying 'Voldemort' does is create even more fear in the wizarding world and show him that you are caving in to his message of fear."

"But I _am_ afraid of him," squeaked a boy from the front.

"And so are many full grown wizards," replied Harry. "However, that fear mustn't cause you to give in to him or his supporters. That is why you are taking Defense Against the Dark Arts, so if the situation ever arises, you will have the confidence to defend yourself against Voldemort and his supporters, even if you are scared of him. Though, back to my lesson, being scared of something doesn't mean you shouldn't say the thing's name. How many people here have a phobia of some kind, like spiders, or heights, or something?"

Most hands went up tentatively.

"Well, you don't rename the thing you are afraid of, do you? Harry asked rhetorically. "If you are afraid of spiders you don't say, 'Those things with eight legs that you shouldn't name.'"

A fair portion of the class laughed at this.

"Well, now can you see how ridiculous it is to not say Voldemort?"

Harry got a similar reaction out of the other classes that he taught that day as well, but by the end he was able to get them all to say, "Voldemort" together as a class. He left them with the assignment to consciously try and say 'Voldemort' instead of 'You-Know-Who' in a conversation.

"How did playing professor go today?" Hermione asked Harry as they worked with Ron and Ginny on their homework at one of the common room tables.

"Not as bad as I thought, even the Slytherins weren't that bad, of course I only had third years and below today. I'm sure Malfoy will make up for it when I get him in a class."

"He's not taking Defense Against the Dark Arts this year," commented Ginny.

"How do you know that?" demanded Ron.

"I overheard him talking with Pansy Parkinson at lunch today," she replied, looking up from her Potions essay. "With O.W.L.'s over, he can take whatever he wants as long as he had the scores for it."

"Figures he would drop Defense," added Ron, "he wants to be the Dark Arts in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I don't really care what he wants to be, if I don't have to put up with him in a class, then I'm happy," replied Harry.

Harry's happiness, however, would not last more than a day though. On Thursday he was faced with classes of older students to teach, who were not as willingly to blindly follow as the first years had been. Harry's heart dropped into his stomach as Professor Snape strode into the classroom, apparently being the sit-in Professor for his next class. Matters didn't get any better, as shortly after, a group of Slytherin fifth years tromped in. Harry knew he was not going to get any respect from this class. There was a faint glimmer of hope when he saw that the class was split between Slytherins and Gryffindors, many of whom had been in the DA the year before. Ginny gave him a reassuring smile before the class started, but that didn't stop the Slytherins from completely ignoring him and chatting amongst themselves throughout the class. Snape did nothing to stop their actions, and only encouraged it by taking points from Gryffindor whenever a Gryffindor student turned around to try and get the Slytherins to shut up.

"Don't worry about it, Harry," soothed Ginny after the class. "It's their grade on the O.W.L.'s. If they don't want to pay attention so they can pass, then don't waste your energy on them."

"Except I heard that Snape is giving private lessons in his office to Slytherin 5th years so they can pass their O.W.L.'s," piped one of Ginny's 5th year friends.

_Why doesn't that surprise me_, Harry thought.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Hermione found Harry lounging lazily in front of the fire that Friday evening, recuperating from the busyness of the week.

"I liked the class today," she said to him, speaking of her and Ron's Defense class that afternoon.

"I don't know if I can keep doing it Hermione," he answered, staring at the white hot embers in the fire.

"You mean teaching?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "The first years aren't too bad, and there is a lot I can teach them, but the classes with the Slytherins…."

"Harry, is it the workload or the Slytherins that make you want to quit?"

Looking guilt, he replied, "The Slytherins. I could handle the extra work, but knowing that the classes with the Slytherins aren't going to be as respectful…"

"You have to stop letting them bother you," Hermione interrupted. "Harry, Professor Dumbledore asked you to do this because he wants you to help the students learn to defend themselves. If you quit, especially because of the Slytherins, then you are letting You-, I mean, V- Voldemort win."

Harry smiled to Hermione, "You just got an A on your homework."

"You expected anything less," returned Hermione, pretending to look shocked. "But no more talk about quitting because of the Slytherins, right?"

Harry nodded, and then looking around asked, "Where's Ron?"

"Upstairs getting ready for Quidditch practice."

Harry sat up quickly, banging the heel of his hand against his forehead. "I can't believe I almost forgot about practice." And with that he hurtled up the stairs toward the dormitory in order to change.

Harry was the last team member to get to the Quidditch pitch, huffing and puffing, he offered a short apology.

"Well, at least you are here now," replied Katie, still looking cross. "I want to try and get the try outs in before it starts to rain."

The entire day had been dark, overcast, and gloomy. It had drizzled on and off, and even when it wasn't raining the air itself felt thick with moisture. Harry's hair was ruffled from the wind that signaled a storm was approaching.

A line of 5 potential Chasers were standing by the pitch, looking very nervous. Harry spied Ginny and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but she was looking at her broom instead, nervously straightening the tail twigs.

"Ok," announced Katie, speaking to the hopefuls. "First, we're going to keep your feet on the ground and see how you all handle a Quaffle."

She opened a mesh bag full of Quaffles, distributing one to each player trying out, and pairing them up with a current player.

"First, I want to see how well you can pass. Throw the Quaffle to your partner with one hand, since when flying you will be holding on to a broom stick with the other hand. Your partner will, hopefully, catch it and throw it back to you. You will catch it with one hand. Keep playing catch, and I'll be around to look at how you are doing.

Harry had been paired up with a Gryffindor third year that he recognized, but didn't know. She stood about 2.5 meters from him, holding the Quaffle lightly in her right hand.

"Ready?" she asked.

Harry nodded, and she threw the crimson ball toward him. It was not what he had expected. He certainly did not think she would lob him the ball, but he didn't think she could whip it at him either. He barely had time to bring both his hands up to his chest and catch the Quaffle. Hands stinging, he threw the ball back to her in a slightly shocked state.

"Sorry, did I throw it too hard?" she asked as she deftly caught the returned ball in her right hand.

Harry just sort of looked at her incredulously. "Where did you learn to throw a Quaffle like that?"

"I didn't learn to throw a Quaffle," she confessed, throwing the Quaffle to Harry again, though slightly softer this time. It was still perfectly aimed at his chest. "I learned with a softball. I'm Muggle born, and my dad has had me playing ball since I could walk. I still play in the summer while on break."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Katie and Ginny stop throwing the Quaffle around, and Katie walked over to Ron and the 2nd year he was playing catch with. The poor kid got so nervous when he saw Katie walk over that his throw sailed over Ron's head, and when Ron returned the ball, the boy fumbled and dropped it.

Harry, however, returned his attention to his partner, knowing that if he got distracted from one of her throws he might end up on the ground with the wind knocked out of him.

"What's your name?" he yelled as he caught the Quaffle.

"Shelby," she replied, catching his throw and whipping the ball back at him.

They continued to play catch while Katie surveyed the pair ups before them. When she finally stopped beside Harry she asked how Shelby was doing.

"Be glad that you Chasers wear gloves," Harry replied, his hands still smarting.

Katie seemed very impressed by Shelby's throws, and had Harry move farther away and gave Shelby different areas of Harry's body to aim for. She hit the target every time.

"Time for the flight test," ordered Katie, after finally relieving Harry of his painful partner.

The Quidditch team hopefuls went for their broomsticks, just as a few fat raindrops started to bounce off Harry's head. Katie seemed willing to put up with the rain, but no sooner had they mounted their brooms, than the heavens opened up and torrents of rain started pounding down on them. Somewhere through the sheets of rain, Harry saw lightning streak across the sky, followed by a loud clap of thunder.

Shouting through the storm's din, Katie yelled, "Get back to the castle. The next time we have the field is on Monday night, so be back here then for the rest of tryouts."

Everyone scrambled back to the castle, utterly drenched. After half an hour in the locker room Harry still didn't feel properly dry, but decided that the common room fire would provide a most comfy spot to finish drying off.

He had been sitting there for less than 5 minutes when Ginny joined him, also hoping to dry off from the try outs.

"How do you think I did, tonight?" Ginny asked, "and be honest."

Harry laughed. "Nervous? You know you are a shoe-in, especially after last year."

"Not if the rest of the team decides that two of the others are better than me at Chasing," she replied.

"I couldn't really watch you too much," replied Harry earnestly, "but from what I saw I thought you did quite well. You have better aim than three of the other hopefuls. Though, Shelby, the girl I was paired with, she's quite good. I think it will be you two for sure. Monday will just be a flying test, and the team already knows you're a damn good flier from last year."

"I just don't want you to have bought me that broom for nothing," Ginny replied.

Harry was about to tell her not to worry about it, when one of the logs shifted in the fire and for a split second he imagined he saw Sirius' head in the flames.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked with concern, seeing him inhale sharply and suddenly stare at the fire.

Harry shook his head, pressing his hands to his eyes. "I must be stressed out from the week. For just an instant, I thought I saw Sirius' head in the fire. It sparked this tiny glimmer of hope, before my brain squashed it."

"Ohh Harry," Ginny cooed, putting an arm around him.

Harry found himself feeling very comfortable in Ginny's embrace. _ Am I starting to feel more for Ginny than just friendship?_ Before Harry could think more on that subject, the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team tromped into the common room and came over to the fire. Harry and Ginny shot apart to opposite sides of the sofa.

"Nice impression of Hermione and Ron," snickered Katie.

"Hey!" Ron scowled. "What were you two doing anyway?"

"Just talking," Ginny replied huffily, getting up to leave.

The rest of the team sat down around the fire.

"So, what did we all think of the try outs?" prompted Katie.

"The bloke you paired me up with might only be competition for Neville," Ron replied.  
"He couldn't hit the broad side of troll."

Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, the beaters who had replaced Fred and George last year, chuckled appreciatively.

"Not that our partners were any better," added Andrew. "She was accurate, but I don't think she could throw hard enough to hit a Chaser more than 3 meters away, especially if there is any wind."

"Who were you paired with, Harry?" inquired Jack.

"Her name was Shelby," Harry replied. "I thought she was quite good, actually."

"I agree," commented Katie. "As long as she can fly half as well as she can throw, then I think it's her and Ginny Weasley."

The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

Harry continued to sit contently by the fire, even after the rest of the team had left. He was thinking of future lessons plans and staring aimlessly into the fire when he felt someone sit down next to him. Looking over he saw Shelby.

"Can I ask you something?" she said.

"Sure," Harry replied.

"You grew up with Muggles, right? I mean, you didn't know who you were till you were 11?"

Harry nodded, wondering why she was asking him this.

"Then, how did you learn how to fly so well?"

"Well, to be honest, it was more natural than anything. The first time I flew I just knew what to do."

"Oh," she replied, looking crest fallen.

"Why do you ask?"

"I really, really, want to play Quidditch," she replied. "But, like I said, I'm Muggle born, so I didn't know anything about this world until three years ago."

Harry looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to get to the point.

"I can't fly."

"You can't fly!" choked Harry.

"Well, I mean, I had flying lessons when I was a first year, like everyone else, and I passed, but I'm really not very comfortable on a broom."

Harry knew that even Neville had managed to pass flying lessons in first year; Madam Hooch was very lenient when it came to grading. "You do know that Quidditch is played on broomsticks?" he asked.

"Of course I do," Shelby replied, looked offended. "But I was kind of hoping that you might be able to give me some flying lessons before Monday?" she said, rushing the last sentence.

Harry wasn't sure what to say. He had a load of homework and lesson plans to be written up, never mind giving flying lessons.

Shelby seemed to be sensing his anxiety, and added in her defense, "I'm really good with a Quaffle; I've been practicing all summer. I could really help the team, if only I could improve my flying some."

Harry knew that her arm would be an asset to the team, especially when it came to scoring goals. "Tomorrow, there is an hour open between the Hufflepuff and Slytherin try outs, meet me at the pitch then and I'll see if I can help you."

The next day at the arranged time, Harry grabbed his broom and headed for the pitch.

"Where are you going?" asked Ron, who was playing exploding snap with Ginny at one of the tables, while Hermione worked on her homework.

"I told that Shelby girl that I would give her some flying lessons," confessed Harry.

"What was she doing trying out for Quidditch if she couldn't fly?" Ron asked, causing Hermione to give him a nasty look.

"She can fly," returned Harry. "She had the class with Madam Hooch, but she's Muggle born, so it's not like she's been flying her entire life."

"Yeah, well Neville had that class too," retorted Ron, sniggering, "so good luck." This caused Ginny to glare at him as well, and as he placed his last card on the stack it exploded in his face.

"Serves you right," Harry heard Hermione and Ginny tell Ron as he exited the portrait hole.

Shelby was waiting for him at the field, a school broom in hand, and a nervous look on her face.

"If you make the team, are you going to use that?" Harry asked, pointing to the old, beat up, and out dated broom stick.

Shelby shook her head. "If I make the team, I can get my parents to buy me a broom. Not a Firebolt like you have, of course, but something nice. One of the new Shooting Star models perhaps."

After Shelby thanked Harry profusely for his time, they finally got in the air. Harry was quite relieved to see that Shelby was a much better flier than Neville, and at least knew how to control the broom. Her problems arose because she felt so out of place on the broom, and always kept her hands tightly clamped to the handle and her body rigid.

"You need to relax," instructed Harry, "stop thinking so much on how to ride and just go with it. If you want to play Quidditch you are going to have to learn to think about the game first, and flying second."

The first thing Harry did was have her fly around the pitch a few times with just one hand on the broom. Then he threw her a Quaffle, so she could get used to flying with it in one hand, while steering the broom with the other.

"You're not as bad at flying as you think you are," yelled Harry as Shelby whizzed by him for a third time. He was hovering on his Firebolt, right around the center of the pitch. She slowed and turned to hover next to him.

"What next," she asked, still holding the Quaffle.

"Next, I'm going to throw the Quaffle to you, so you can get used to catching it and flying at the same time."

The first few times Shelby missed the Quaffle, either because she flew past the throw point, or got nervous and put both hands back on the broomstick. Finally, Harry lobbed her the ball and she caught it deftly with one hand, then tucking it against her side, sped off toward a goal post where she hurled it through the middle hoop. Diving to retrieve the ball, she returned to Harry with a large grin on her face.

"That was good," Harry complemented. "Let's try it a few more times and then get out of here before the Slytherins show up."

Back in the common room, Harry gave in to Hermione's nagging and started working on his homework. Barely past the third sentence in his Transfiguration essay, Katie Bell marched up to him, demanding to know what she had heard about him teaching Shelby to fly.

"Did you tell everyone on the team?" he accused Ron.

"I didn't volunteer the information, mate," replied Ron defensively, raising his hands in front of him. "Katie came over and wanted to know where her Seeker was, so I told her."

Katie, apparently impatient for an answer, broke in, "So what did I hear about you teaching one of the try outs how to fly, Potter?"

"She _can_ fly," stressed Harry. "She just wanted some pointers so she could learn how to fly better."

Katie gave him a once over, apparently deciding he was telling the truth, before walking away.

"What is it about the Quidditch Captain position that turns normal people demonic?" sighed Ron.

Harry didn't know, but he certainly hoped he had helped Shelby attain Katie's 'half as well as she can throw' standard.

Monday dawned bright and clear after the rainy weekend, creating perfect weather for Quidditch. Harry and Ron arrived at the pitch after a day full of classes, looking foreword to something that would take their minds off schoolwork.

First, Katie had the students trying out fly around the Quidditch field twice while holding the Quaffle. Harry was happy to see that Shelby remembered to stay relaxed, and actually looked rather graceful in the air, at least compared to the boy Ron had been paired up with. Next, Katie told her team to take to the air, and hover below her and the recruits. She was going to throw them the Quaffle, and she didn't want to waste time chasing after it when they missed.

Ginny went first, and was very good. She didn't miss a single Quaffle, making the job for the boys below very boring. Harry and Ron amused themselves by watching Andrew juggle the two beater bats while hovering no handed.

"Would you mind being just a little bit helpful!" Katie yelled from above, pointing to a rapidly descending Quaffle.

Harry, Ron, and Jack all shot after the ball, eager to keep Katie is a semi-good mood. Harry easily beat the other two, and shot back up the equivalent of several stories to return the ball to Katie.

They found themselves much busier now that Ginny had finished. The boy who Ron had been paired with was now trying desperately to catch a Quaffle, but to no avail. The guys took turns chasing after the plummeting ball. The next girl wasn't too bad; she caught about as many as she missed. The boy after her caught most of his, but only barely, most were bobbled. Finally, it was Shelby's turn. She had started to revert back to sitting very rigid, showing how nervous she was, causing Harry to want and shout and tell her to relax, but he stayed quiet. Katie threw the first Quaffle, and Shelby missed by a mile.

As she flew back to the starting mark she looked down at Harry. 'Relax' he mouthed to her, taking his hands off his broom, putting them behind his head, and pretending to recline to make sure she got the idea. He could see her visibly loosen up before Katie threw the next ball. This one she caught nicely, throwing it back to Katie. That seemed to give her confidence, and she caught all the rest of Katie's throws.

"Ron," shouted Katie, "get into your position; I'm going to have them try to shoot some goals, but don't try to block them, I just want them to see a Keeper. The rest of you, back behind the goal posts to catch the Quaffles that go through."

Harry hovered behind the lower left hoop, waiting for any successful throws. Ginny came first again, flying full speed with a Quaffle clamped in her right hand. Ron flew in a direction, as if to block her, but Ginny dove at the last second and sent the Quaffle directly through the right hoop. Had it been a real game, Ron wouldn't have stood a chance. The rest of Ginny's throws were good as well, though some Ron probably could have stopped in a game situation.

Next was the Neville-like boy. He could throw the Quaffle through the hoops, but Ron had to purposefully duck and move out of the way to let each one through. The girl that had been paired with Andrew the day before had better strategy than the boy before her, but she just didn't have a very strong arm. Many of her throws fell just short of the hoops. The next candidate was better at scoring goals than he had been at catching the Quaffle. Shelby was last again, and she started off flying low then rose a yard suddenly, hurling the ball through the middle hoop. After seeing the speed of her throw, Ron didn't look like he wanted to block any of her throws anytime soon. She made most of the rest of her shots, only missing on the last one, when she tried a dive like Ginny's but missed wide right.

When they all landed, Katie took the team over for a brief huddle to decide on who the two new players would be.

"Well, Ginny Weasley is in for sure," started Katie, facing into their little circle.

The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

"The hard decision is between Sean Warden," she indicated the boy who had gone fourth, "and Shelby Rancing. Warden doesn't catch as well as I would like, and I'm not sure that during a full blown game he would be able to hang onto the Quaffle. Rancing, on the other hand, has a great arm and can catch, but her flying isn't quit as good as Warden."

"I vote for Shelby," voiced Harry, sticking up for his personal favorite out of the two. "Her flying will improve, even if I have to keep giving her lessons. Plus, her arm more than makes up for the flying."

"I agree," put in Ron. "Besides, that Warden kid bugs me.

"That's because he hangs around you sister a lot," snickered Jack.

Suddenly, Harry didn't like Warden much either. _You're being stupid,_ he thought, _Ginny is free to date whoever she wants._

"You two have an opinion," Katie asked the two beaters.

"Warden's catching can be improved," commented Andrew, "but his arm could never reach the caliber of Rancing's. She, however, could easily learn to fly as well as Warden."

Jack nodded in agreement.

"So we have reached an accord?" asked Katie. "Weasley and Rancing?"

The team nodded an affirmative and they broke their huddle.

Katie went over to tell the others their decision, and soon Shelby and Ginny joined them as a full team.

"Harry, Ron told me you have a working model of a Quidditch Pitch?" inquired Katie,

"Yeah."

"Can you bring it next practice so I can show you guys the plays before we get into the air?"

"Sure."

"Ok, then I want to see everyone back here on Wednesday, same time."


	13. Chapter 13

Someone pointed out in one of the reviews that my automatic spell checker had changed Lucius to Lucious, so I've corrected that amusing mis spelling and re-submitted the chapter. Thank you.

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Chapter 13

Harry settled into the new term at Hogwarts, and soon a month had rolled by. Quidditch practices were becoming colder, and the leaves were starting to litter the Hogwarts lawns. Harry, after his two week grace period, decided he rather liked teaching, even if it gave him hardly any free time. He was teaching the third years and below, who had never really had a decent Defense teacher, basic spells, like Expelliarmus, Protego, Stupefy, and Impedimenta. For those classes who had the pleasure of being taught by Professor Lupin 3 years ago, Harry was covering more advanced magic, including many of the curses and hexes he had learned during his fourth year. Ginny's class, along with Ron and Hermione's, contained a lot of former DA members, so they were learning new curses and spells right along with Harry, who was doing quite well on his weekly essays to McGonagall.

Quidditch was also progressing fairly well. Katie had thought up some rather good plays over the summer, and Shelby's flying was improving with every practice. They had just learned that their first match would be the first full weekend in November, against Slytherin. Harry wanted nothing more than to steam roll them. Malfoy, perhaps because of their gracious lack of classes together, was not heckling Harry as much as he had previous years. He hadn't even made so much as a squawk about his father's escape from Azkaban, which made Hermione think that he was being ordered by someone to keep his mouth shut; to avoid drawing attention. As for the escapees, Aurors were out searching for them, but it was as if they had disappeared off the planet. The random attacks had stopped, and even Dumbledore reckoned something was amiss. He had confided to Harry, during one office visit, that he thought the Death Eaters were regrouping. Usually Snape could have helped the Order figure out what was going on, but he had reported that Malfoy had not contacted him since his escape from prison, and the Dark Lord had not sent for him. He was having a hard time finding available Death Eaters to fill him in on what was going on.

As October started, McGonagall made a rare appearance in the Gryffindor Common Room one evening, to provide the students with information about the upcoming ball.

"The ball will begin at 7pm with a feast in the Great Hall, after which the popular group, Salem's Revenge, will play."

At this, many of the students in the common room started gabbing with their neighbors. Harry had never heard of Salem's Revenge, but they were apparently about as popular as The Weird Sisters.

McGonagall cleared her throat several times, waiting for silence to fall again. "As the headmaster said at the start of term banquet, this ball is mandatory for all students. However, you do not need to come with a partner, nor do you need to stay the entire evening once the feast has finished. Dress robes, though, will be required for the feast as well as the events after."

The common room was a buzz after McGonagall departed. All the girls seemed to have come down with contagious cases of the giggles, making Harry and the other boys feel very uncomfortable. Their only hope of escape lay in their own dormitories, so Harry, Ron, and Neville quickly excused themselves from the table from which they had listened to McGonagall. As they stood up Hermione did so as well, preparing to go join a group of giggling 6th year girls.

"Oh, and Ron," she said pointedly, "just so that it doesn't take you as long as it did last ball, I want to remind you that I _am_ a girl." With that, she fled to the safety of other girls.

"What was that about?" Ron asked, looking confused.

Neville and Harry both laughed.

"I think Hermione wants you to ask her to the ball," replied Harry, hardly able to keep a straight face.

"No she doesn't!" Ron replied huffily.

Harry and Neville just laughed again.

The closer the days crept to Halloween and the ball, the more madness seemed to possess the Hogwarts women. Harry was strongly reminded of his fourth year, but quite happy knowing that this time he didn't have to get a partner, and had every intention of attending the feast and ball stag. Ron was trying to do the same thing as well, convincing himself thoroughly that Hermione's little spout had not meant what it truly did. However, he could not hide from Hermione forever, especially after Ginny informed her that Ron had no inkling that he should invite her to the ball. So she took matters into her own hands.

Harry, Ginny, and Ron, all still dressed in their Quidditch robes after an extra long practice, were seated around a table in the common room, hurriedly trying to get last minute homework done before bed.

"Harry, what are the last three steps to inter-species transfiguration?" asked Ron, sounding perplexed.

"Umm," Harry replied, flipping through his notes for the answer, "I think it's…"

But Harry never got the answer out, for at that moment Hermione had entered the common room from the girls' dormitories. She had finished her homework long before their practice had finished, and was already dressed in her sleeping gown.

"Ronald Weasley, will you go to the ball with me?" she asked in a voice that left no question that the answer had better not be 'no.'

Ron looked like he had just been hit with a stunning spell. He finally managed to nod his head numbly. Hermione, apparently, felt this was good enough and turned to leave again.

Ron, however, seemed to finally find his voice, yelling after her, "Hermione, can you do your hair the way you did for the last ball?"

Ginny and Harry immediately burst into uncontrollable laughter, as Hermione smiled and nodded an affirmative to Ron's question.

"Shut up, you two," warned Ron, watching Ginny and Harry holding their sides, tears rolling down their faces.

Harry, though, was also unaware that his company was being secretly sought after as well.

Since the ball was scheduled for Halloween, the first Hogsmead weekend had been planned for the weekend before Halloween. It was an unusually warm, sunny day, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were enjoying their butter beers at some tables outside The Three Broomsticks. Hermione was trying to weasel Harry into telling her what their assignments in Defense were going to be in the coming week so she could work ahead, while at the same time Ron was trying to describe to him the surprise victory by the Chudley Cannons the week before.

Harry's mind, however, was on yet another topic; Sirius. He had sadly realized, when they had walked past the Shrieking Shack, that he hadn't thought of his godfather for almost two weeks. Harry had been overcome by guilt, and was still contemplating it, while half listening to Hermione and Ron's conversations.

"…just so I could get ahead a bit, you know…."  
"…and then Edams, their seeker, dove…"

"…if I could do the Defense essays for the week on Sunday, then I could devote so much more time to Potions…"

"…but, the bloody beater for the other team…"

"Hey Harry, can I talk to you for a second."

Harry shook his head clear and looking up saw Ginny standing next to him, looking at him expectantly.

"Huh… what…sorry, I was out of it."

"Can I talk to you for a second," Ginny repeated, and then blushing slightly, "privately."

"Umm, sure Ginny," replied a perplexed Harry.

Harry got up, taking his butter beer with him, and followed Ginny over to an empty table out of Ron and Hermione's earshot.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

Ginny looked uncomfortable, and not at all herself. "I, um, well, I, uh, just wanted to tell you that Neville asked me to go to the ball with him."

Harry wasn't sure why she was telling him this, but she seemed to be expecting an answer, so he said, "Well that's nice Ginny. You and he seemed to have a nice time at the Yule ball."

Ginny looked like he had just told her he was a Death Eater. "Then, you, you don't have a problem with that? I mean, I told him I would have to think about it," she stuttered.

"Why would I have a problem with that?" Harry asked, utterly confused.

Ginny rose quickly from the table, and Harry could see her fighting back tears. "Oh, Harry," she managed to sputter before rushing away.

Harry was shocked. He couldn't understand what that was about, until a few seconds later something clicked in his brain.

_I need to stop being so slow around girls_ he thought before shouting, "Hey Ginny, wait!"

Ginny stopped, already several yards away.

"Will you go to the ball with me?" he yelled to her, not caring that the entire area could hear him.

Ginny's face burst into a smile, and she rushed back, taking Harry by surprise when she hugged him instead of giving him an answer.

_I guess I'll take that as a yes,_ he thought to himself.

Harry was beginning to think that Ginny was physically going to hold onto him until the ball when Ron walked over.

Ginny disengaged herself from Harry and turned to face her brother.

"What do you mean you are taking my sister to the ball?" he demanded of Harry, looking furious.

Before Harry could answer, Ginny piped in, "If you would rather, I could have gone with Neville again. Or that Warden boy, he asked me almost two weeks ago."

Ron was doing a very good impersonation of a fish.

Hermione had arrived behind Ron, looking at him and asking, "but I thought you wanted Ginny and Harry to hook up?"

"Yeah," added Harry. "Last year, when you found out Ginny was dating Michael Corner, you said you thought she fancied me."

"I, yeah, but….," finally, looking defeated, "did you have to yell it for all of Hogsmeade to hear?"

Everyone laughed.

"Sorry, mate," Harry replied with a smirk. "I can be a bit slow when it comes to girls. It took me a while to translate. I didn't want to miss my opportunity."

"But I thought Hermione said Ginny was over Harry?" asked Ron.

That thought hadn't dawned on Harry yet either, so turning to Ginny, he asked, "Yeah, I thought you had gotten over me as well?"

"Can we not talk about this here, please?" requested a beet red Ginny.

"Oh, yeah," replied Harry, not realizing that he was embarrassing her.

They left Ron and Hermione, and walked out toward the edge of the village. They finally settled to sit on some small boulders by the roadside. On the hillside, nearby, was the cave Sirius had hid in when he came to visit Harry during 4th year.

"I didn't mean to start the Inquisition back there," apologized Harry.

"I know," replied Ginny, "I just didn't want to share my feelings with the whole world."

"So," prodded Harry, "what do you feel for me?"

Ginny smiled at him, leaning back in the warmth of the sunshine. "I told Hermione that I had gotten over you, not because I actually had, but because I had gotten over the idea that you could ever like me the way I liked you. I wasn't blind, Harry, I saw how you looked at Cho Chang."

"But you started talking to me," argued Harry. "Before, I knew you had a crush on me, and you would turn so red every time I walked into the room."

"I did start talking to you Harry," replied Ginny, "but not because I had stopped liking you, but, well, for two reasons really. First, I knew you liked Cho, and so it didn't matter what I did around you, you weren't going to notice. That took away a lot of the fear I had. I never wanted to talk to you before because I was afraid I was going do something stupid. Secondly, I grew up some. I wasn't 11 any more; I was a teenager, with different feelings."

"I'm sorry Ginny."

"For what?"

"For not noticing you before."

"Its not your fault, I couldn't force you to notice me."

"So why did you decide to bring up the ball. You wanted me to ask you, but why after four years?"

"I was hoping you had started to notice me," she confessed. "With us being together all last summer, and the DA, and the fight at the Ministry, and then this summer at Headquarters, this little flame of hope rekindled itself inside me."

"Since we are confessing our feelings," said Harry slowly. "I guess I should tell you that I've been thinking about you lately too. Not only because of the summer, but because your always there for me. Like last month, when you gave me a hug cause I hadn't gotten down about Sirius again. And then, when we were deciding between Shelby and Sean Warden for Quidditch, when I heard that he was spending a lot of time with you, I, I, think I actually felt jealous."

"Harry," Ginny said with all seriousness, "do you see me more than Ron's little sister. Or, at least, could you ever."

"I honestly don't know how I feel about you Ginny, not the way I felt about Cho, but of course, that didn't end so well, so that doesn't bother me. But I've always seen you as more than Ron's little sister."

"I just don't want you to go to the ball with me because you think you have to, cause you pity me, or feel you have to be chivalrous."

Harry flashed a large smile, "Me, chivalrous, never!"

Ginny laughed, but all too soon her smile faded.

"Malfoy, along with Crabbe and Goyle, just Apparated down the path," she gasped, pointing down the beaten dirt path that led away from Hogsmeade.

"Apparate? But they aren't old enough to Apparate?" replied a shocked Harry, following Ginny's point.

"Yeah, and the Unforgivable Curses are illegal too. Does that seem to matter one bit to people like Malfoy?"

"Touché," Harry replied, now standing up. Malfoy and his cronies were walking right toward them, and he knew there was no way he and Ginny would go unnoticed; best to meet the trouble head on.

"Ahh, Potter," seethed Malfoy. "Out on a date with your girlfriend? Can't say you two don't deserve each other, can I?"

"Exploring a bit more than Hogsmeade, were we?" asked Harry, tightly clasping his wand under his robes.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Potter, besides, you have no proof. Now I suggest you keep your mouth shut and move to let us pass."

"And if I don't," replied Harry, taking a step closer to Malfoy.

"If you don't, I'll…"

"…curse me like you did on the train ride home? That didn't go so well for you, and trust me, as Defense teacher, I'm learning some rather gruesome hexes."

Malfoy's stony glare seemed to flicker for just a split second at the memory.

Ginny laughed at him. "Don't like that memory, do you Malfoy? I bet you wish you could erase that one, along with all the times Harry beat you at Quidditch, oh, and how about that time Mad-Eye Moody turned you into a ferret. You know, if you stood still, I bet I could help you out in that department. Granted, you might loose a few other memories as well…"

"I'd shut my mouth if I were you, Weasely."

"I'd like to see you try to shut it, Malfoy," responded Ginny, pointing her wand menacingly at Malfoy.

Seeming to want to avoid swapping spells, Malfoy side stepped Harry and Ginny, calling to Crabbe and Goyle, "Come on, we have better things to be doing than wasting our time with these two Muggle lovers." He walked away, swishing his cloak in the exact way Lucius Malfoy did.

Harry and Ginny let them pass, but no before Harry yelled one last quip. "Oh, and Draco, next time you go to visit your father, tell him to tell Voldemort I said hello."

They waited to make sure Malfoy and his gang didn't turn around to fire a cheap shot at them, before taking a different route back to tell Ron and Hermione what had just conspired.

As if his weeks weren't busy enough, Harry still had to find time to squeeze in weekly Occlumency lessons with Snape. So, on a beautiful Friday afternoon, between his last class and Quidditch practice, Harry found himself staring at Snape's pickled creations once again. Harry's mind was very far from Occlumency though, and he knew the lesson was going to be brutal for that reason. He hadn't forgotten Malfoy's entrance into Hogsmeade, but as both Malfoy and Dumbledore (when Harry had related to story to him) had pointed out, Harry didn't have enough evidence to stop Malfoy from doing anything. In addition to the irritation brought on by the past incident, Harry was also feeling distinctively nervous and excited about the fast approaching ball. He was still trying to sort out his feelings about Ginny, providing even more confused emotions for Snape to play off of.

"You're distracted, Potter," oozed Snape, jolting Harry back into the creepy office. "If you aren't going to concentrate on these lessons, then you might as well get out, I have better things to do with my time."

Harry would have liked nothing better but to have gotten out, but he had promised Dumbledore he would continue these lessons, and he would never break a promise to the headmaster. He just couldn't figure out why the incident with Malfoy was still nagging at him so much, it wasn't like it was the first time Malfoy had ticked him off. Suddenly, an idea struck Harry, and he understood why his subconscious kept bringing up Malfoy's Apparating act.

"Professor, I think I have a way for you to contact Death Eaters."

"What did you just say Potter?" Snape practically shouted. "What business is it of yours…"

"I'm in the _Order_ now," Harry stressed impatiently. "Dumbledore tells me things when I go to his office, and he told me that you were having trouble keeping up on Voldemort's activities, especially since you have been unable to contact Lucius Malfoy. But last weekend, in Hogsmeade, Ginny Weasley and I saw Draco Malfoy, along with Crabbe and Goyle, Apparate in from somewhere. I'll bet my Firebolt they were visiting Lucius, and know where to find the missing Death Eaters. You and Draco seem to share some common ground, like hating me, so strike up a conversation…"

"I already spoke with Draco, he does not know where his father is staying," Snape lied. "Now, if you are finished giving me your childish advice I would like to continue this lesson, that way I can get back to doing more important things."

Unbeknown to Harry, Snape sought out Malfoy that very evening, and had a long, Death Eater oriented conversation with him.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's note: I hope everyone had a great New Years. I'm hoping to get this fan fic done well before Jo releases the new book in July, because if it isn't done by then, it will probably never get done once the real Book 6 comes out. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Another one should be along in a week or two.

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Chapter 14

Harry dreamt about Sirius again that Friday night, a dream similar to the ones he had in Grimmauld Place. He was back in the Department of Mysteries, in the room with the archway. Sirius was standing there, or he seemed to be there, but when Harry got closer he could see that Sirius was standing just out of reach on the other side of the stone gateway. Again, his godfather was holding the shards of the mirror Harry had smashed at the end of the past school year. Sirius seemed to breathe onto the glass pieces, and they slowly reformed back into a whole mirror. Kneeling down, Sirius slipped the mirror across the threshold of the arch way, placing it in front of two crossed wands. The wand on the left Harry recognized as his own, but although the other slightly shorter and thinner wand looked familiar, he could not remember whose it was. Then, for the first time, Sirius spoke in Harry's dream.

"This is the last time I can visit you, Harry," said the haunting voice. "Please, find the meaning in this dream, and know that I am with your parents now. I am happy. Let me go, move on to better things in your life, you are destined for greatness, Harry."

Harry woke with a start, Sirius' voice echoing in his ears. Wiping sweat off his face, Harry realized he was wasn't sweating, but crying. He tried to shake his head clear, and fall back asleep, but the dream seemed to be burned into his brain.

"Find the meaning in this dream," echoed Sirius' voice inside Harry's head.

_The meaning of the dream,_ pondered Harry, now wishing he had paid more attention to dream interpretation in Divination. _Every dream I've had about Sirius has involved the room in the Department of Mysteries, Sirius, and….what else…. that mirror!_

The meaning of the dream suddenly struck Harry like a bludger. Sirius wanted Harry to repair the mirror he had smashed.

Judging from the myriad of crickets outside, and the glaring light of the moon, Harry knew it must still be very early in the morning. The other boys were sleeping soundly, light snores escaping from behind the thick bed curtains.

Getting out of bed lightly, Harry stooped to open the trunk at the foot of his bed.

"Lumos," he muttered quietly, his wand tip spreading light across the contents of his trunk. Pushing clothing and books to the side, he reached the bottom, where broken pieces of glass glittered back up at him. Hoping that all the pieces were still in the bottom of his trunk, he whispered, "Repairo," pointing his wand at the shards of mirror.

It took longer than usual to work, but Harry watched as the pieces of glass slowly migrated together, finally forming a perfect square mirror again. Harry reached into the trunk and drew out the repaired mirror. He longed to speak Sirius' name into it, but he knew that on his bedside table was the companion mirror. The dream had been Harry's final communication with his godfather. Harry now wondered what to do with the whole mirror.

_Perhaps Sirius wants me to slide it under through the archway,_ he mused. _I don't know how that would be possible though, there is not way I'm going to get back into the Department of Mysteries. _

Knowing that he had yet to interpret why Sirius wanted him to repair the mirror, Harry satisfied himself by knowing that he had at least completed the first step to understanding his dreams. Placing the new mirror next to the other one on his nightstand, Harry slipped into bed and fell back to sleep.

Most of the school spent Saturday in leisure activities, preparing for the ball that night. Harry, Ron, and Ginny were no exceptions, whittling away the time with Exploding Snap, Chess, and Gobbstones. Even Hermione seemed to be relaxing, forgoing her homework till Sunday, and instead watching Harry loose spectacularly in Wizard's chess to both Ginny and Ron. The kitchens sent up an early tea to the Common Rooms to satisfy the students' hunger till the feast. Dobby, along with three other house elves, delivered the hot tea and scones to the Gryffindor Common Room. He had explained, between bows to Harry, that no one was being admitted to the Great Hall for tea because Dumbledore wanted the decorations to be a surprise. At four in the afternoon, Hermione and Ginny excused themselves so they could start getting ready for the ball.

"I still don't know why it takes them three hours to get ready for a dance," mused Ron to Harry.

"I don't try to pretend I understand girls," Harry replied. "I'm just glad I'm not one. I pity the girl who'd have to have as unruly hair as mine."

Ron snickered. "I bet there are some Slytherin girls who would rather look like you. It would be a vast improvement."

They both chuckled at that remark.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want Pansy Parkinson to look like me, she'd lower the standard, she would."

"Oh, I suppose you think you set the standard?" Ron joked.

"Of course I do," replied Harry, mocking haughtiness, "the famous Harry Potter and all that. How could anyone not want to look as handsome as me?"

"Be careful what you wish for mate, or Witch Weekly will start naming you for their Most Charming Smile award."

"Oh, and then I could start writing my own books as well, like Snickering With Snitches and Vying with Voldemort."

The boys continued on in good humored fun, as the common room became increasingly void of females. A few boys mounted the stairs to the boys' dormitories, only to return a few minutes later, dressed in dress robes and not sure what else to do but sit down and wait again.

A seventh year sitting by the fire was creating quite a stir by showing his friends how to turn candle sticks into roses.

"How'd you learn to do that?" one of his friends asked.

"My dad taught me last summer, said this little trick made him quite the ladies man when he was at Hogwarts."

Eventually, almost every boy, including Ron and Harry, had paid the boy 2 Knuts to transfigure a candle into a rose for their dates. Although his looked like a perfect red rose, Harry swore that when he sniffed at it, it still smelled like candle wax.

Half an hour till 7, Ron and Harry decided they had best start getting ready. Dean, Seamus, and Neville were already in the dormitory when they walked in, half way through pulling on dress robes and tidying their hair.

Harry noticed that when they had entered the conversation had abruptly ended, bringing to Harry's mind the arguments that had occurred between him and his dorm-mates last year over Voldemort's return and Harry's sanity. Ron seemed to notice as well, exchanging a confused look with Harry.

Harry and Ron weren't finished dressing yet by the time Neville and Seamus, both dateless, had already departed. Dean was still nitpicking at his hair in the mirror.

"So what were you talking about before we came in?" inquired Harry in what he hoped was an innocent sounding manner.

Dean, however, stiffened visibly before relaxing again and replying, "Oh, you know, about the ball and stuff. How we found or didn't find our dates, that's all."

"You were talking about how you didn't get girls to go with you, well that's a little depressing," replied Ron.

"Well I wasn't," said Dean, "I have a date. And Seamus didn't really want one, but Neville, I think he might be a little bit bitter."

"Bitter?" asked Harry.

Dean raised his eyebrows at Harry, "well you can't blame him, can you?"

"Why is Neville bitter, Dean?" repeated Harry, thinking he was starting to cotton on, but hoping he was wrong.

"Well, mostly because he thinks you stole his date."

"I didn't steal his date!" Harry exploded.

"Hey, I didn't say you did!" Dean defended, "but you have to take it up with Neville."

It took Ron a few minutes to get Harry to stop ranting and steaming over what Dean had told him.

"Come on, mate, we both know you didn't steal Neville's date. Ginny _wanted_ to go with _you _not Neville, and if he can't deal with that it's not your problem. Don't let it get you down, now let's go."

The Common Room was crowded once again, and the Portrait of the Fat Lady was lazily hanging open on her hinges, instead of constantly opening and closing. She was also yelling reminders to the departing students, such as, "Have fun dears, but don't do anything I wouldn't do," and "join in a good Foxtrot for me, I used to love that dance."

Harry found it very hard to imagine the Fat Lady doing any sort of dancing, never mind the Foxtrot.

After a quick scan around the Common Room, Ron and Harry determined that Hermione and Ginny had yet to make their appearance. They found two seats away from the mass of other students, where they could watch the stairway that led to the girls' dormitories. It wasn't long before Hermione and Ginny entered, though it took both Ron and Harry a few seconds to realize it was them.

Harry's eyes immediately swiveled to Ginny, who was looking spectacular in a silky looking beige-tan robe. She had done part of her hair up in an elaborate twist, but left the rest to cascade over her shoulders in a red tide. The contrast between her hair and her robe was stunning, and she was carrying herself as if she knew she looked gorgeous and wanted every man in Hogwarts to notice.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ron's mouth hanging slightly open, which caused him to tear his full attention away from Ginny and look at Hermione. She was looking very nice as well. As promised, she had slicked her hair back into the same style she had worn for the Yule ball two years ago. Though, instead of blue robes, she was donning a robe that seemed to shimmer between a purple and a pink as she moved. Harry realized that the robes both girls were wearing showed off figures that he hadn't realized either girl possessed.

_I'm beginning to agree with Dumbledore about this Ball helping to keep the school in high spirits. It should be mandatory more than once a year for Hogwarts girls to get out of their uniforms and into something more revealing._

Ron and Harry approached their dates, slightly in awe.

"I got this for you," said Harry, handing Ginny the rose.

"Thank you, Harry," she said with a smile, reaching up and placing the flower into her up-do.

"You look, really, really, nice," Harry continued, hoping he didn't sound too stupid. He couldn't think of a better word for 'nice' at the moment.

Ginny smiled at him again. "It took a little alteration on my part, since Mum had to buy it from a second hand store, but I think the robe turned out quite nice. I did get rid of the lace, at least."

Harry was starting to relax, and responded, "Ron could have used your help at the last ball."

Ginny giggled, causing Harry to relax completely. "Ronald's robe was beyond even my help for last ball."

"Hey, I heard that," retorted Ron, whom Harry had completely forgotten was standing next to them, talking to Hermione.

Ginny and Harry laughed, and he extended his arm to Ginny, who took it, mocking great ceremony, and they marched out the portrait hole.

Harry and Ginny struck up a conversation about Quidditch as they walked down the corridors toward the Great Hall. During a lull, Ginny glanced back over her shoulder to check that Ron and Hermione were still following them. She turned back around grinning, and motioned for Harry to take a peek over his shoulder as well.

He craned his neck and looked back at Ron and Hermione, who were looking the perfect couple, as they walked, hand in hand, down the hall.

Harry was about to turn his head back and make a sarcastic comment about how cute Ron and Hermione looked together, when Ginny took him completely by surprise, sliding her hand down his arm and intertwining her fingers with his. Any sarcastic thoughts quickly left Harry's head, and he felt his face flush a deep red.

Ginny looked up at him questioningly, but Harry squeezed her hand gently; letting her know that, now that the shock was over, he didn't mind holding hands.

The Great Hall had been decorated beautifully, beginning in the entrance way leading to it. Lines of glowing pumpkins created two curving paths, one leading from the school corridors to the Great Hall, the other from the Great Hall to the oak front doors. Harry suspected that they had again decorated the gardens outside as well. They entered the Great Hall by walking through a gigantic carved pumpkin, revealing a much different environment than they were used to. There were small, eight person tables dotting the floor, with a long table set up for the staff near the front. Each table was glittering with golden plates, goblets, and utensils, with a jack-o-lantern fountain centerpiece. Instead of the usual floating candles dispersed evenly across the ceiling, the candles had been rounded up to form chandeliers, one centered over each table. To fill in the open spaces, bright orange and black streamers were hanging, along with what Harry thought looked like gigantic balloons.

After taking in the decorations for a short while, Ron and Hermione led them to an empty table where they sat down. Harry, playing the gentleman, pulled out Ginny's chair for her, before sitting down himself.

"Way to make me look bad," pouted Ron, who had not helped Hermione into her seat.

Harry shrugged. "I can't help it if I was brought up a gentleman."

"If the Dursleys taught you to be a gentleman, then my parents taught me to be a Death Eater," snickered Ron.

"Ok, so they taught Dudley to pretend to be a gentleman around guests, and I picked up a few things."

Their table was filled when Dean and his date, a pretty 4th year Hufflepuff, and Shelby and Andrew sat down. They made small talk until the feast was about to begin, upon which Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat loudly to capture everyone's attention.

"I hope everyone is enjoying the festivities so far. I would like to thank Professor Flitwick and the Charms Club for helping to decorate the Great Hall so marvelously." There was a spattering of polite applause. "Now, to the main event, or at least what I am looking most forward to, the food. You will find you have a selection to choose from," he waved his hand and many students gasped as menu cards appeared on their plates. "Feel free to try one, two, or even all of the excellent dishes."

Dumbledore took his seat, and the hall burst into conversation again. Harry scanned down his menu, now understanding why Dumbledore had prompted them to try more than one thing. He was quite unable to make up his mind about what he wanted, and knowing Hogwarts' cooking, was sure everything would be delicious.

He wasn't the only one who couldn't decide though; the entire table was humming and hoeing about what to order. Finally, Harry made up his mind, asking his plate for baked stuffed chicken and garlic mashed red potatoes.

"Guess you don't want a kiss goodnight from Ginny," Ron teased, as Harry swallowed a mouthful of the creamy potatoes.

Ginny ordered breaded cod with seasoned rice. Hermione had requested shrimp Alfredo, and Ron was helping himself to a large portion of pot roast and boiled potatoes and carrots smothered in beef gravy. Andrew was quickly cleaning a plate of sirloin tips over a rice and vegetable mix, while Shelby was digging into a Caesar salad topped with marinated, grilled chicken. Dean was already half way through his plate of pork chops, while his date was enjoying a steaming bowl of Minestrone soup.

After eating almost half their meal, the group began to wonder where the drinks were. Their goblets were still empty, and there were no dink options on the menus.

"Pumpkin juice?" Dean asked his goblet tentatively, hoping it worked like the plates. However, his goblet remained empty, and nothing appeared on the table.

Ginny looked around to see what the other tables were doing when it came to something to drink, but all the tables around them had not seemed to notice the dilemma yet, or were just as confused as they were.

Harry looked up to the staff table, but they didn't appear to have anything to drink either.

"Maybe the house elves forgot to get drinks ready," Harry suggested. "The teachers don't even seem to know what to do. Professor McGonagall must have really needed something to drink though, because she just filled her goblet with the water from the centerpieces."

Hermione laughed, "I think you figured it out Harry." She reached forward and let some of the water in from the jack-o-lantern fountain fall into her goblet. Taking a sip, she smiled, "its pumpkin juice!"

Not ready to totally believe Hermione, everyone else reached out their goblets as well, taking tentative sips.

"That's bloody brilliant!" exclaimed Ron, plunging his goblet back into the pumpkin juice fountain and filling it up completely.

As everyone finished their dinners, new menus appeared describing many luscious desserts.

"I'm kind of disappointed that there isn't any plain candy," commented Shelby, looking over the list of fancy cakes and ice creams.

"I know," commiserated Dean, "the candy I would take away from the Halloween feast would usually keep me till Christmas."

After dessert, Dumbledore again stood up, waiting to receive everyone's attention.

"I hope everyone enjoyed the feast. Now, if everyone would please stand up."

Almost all the teachers and students did as Dumbledore asked, except for a few Slytherins, who didn't feel it was worth their effort. Seeming to ignore the dissidents, Dumbledore continued. "Now, it is time for the dancing, but first we all need a place to dance in." He waved his wand and the tables and chairs disappeared with a pop, leaving the ignorant Slytherins to land hard on their behinds.

The long staff table had also disappeared and the teachers moved aside to reveal a stage behind them. A few seconds later, instruments magically appeared and the band marched on stage. Many students cheered, and as soon as the first note started, began to dance. Harry liked the music, and soon he and Ginny were dancing as well. After a little while, the band slowed the music down, and couples started moving together on the floor. For a few awkward seconds, neither Harry nor Ginny moved, but when they saw Ron and Hermione move together to start slow dancing, they moved too. Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, pulling herself close to him, and laying her head against his shoulder. Harry wasn't sure where to put his hands at first, but once he relaxed he held Ginny around the waist, enjoying having her so close to him.

When the slow songs had finished, the band kicked it up again. Ron and Hermione had disappeared somewhere, and Ginny asked Harry if they wanted to go out into the gardens.

They followed the lit path of jack-o-lanterns outside, expecting to meet the chilling night air, but instead found it pleasantly warm. Looking up, Harry saw a shimmering dome above them, turning the gardens into a kind of greenhouse. Other students had left the Great Hall as well, and were walking or sitting among the hedges. Professor Sprout had turned a segment of the hedges into a maze, with benches hidden throughout in private, dead end areas.

They avoided the maze, as Harry hadn't quite liked them since the end of his fourth year. Instead, they went farther out onto the grounds, where there were fewer lights and the stars showed through the dome. They sat down together on a stone bench, just silently looking up at the sky for a few minutes.

"Are you having a good time?" Harry asked Ginny.

Ginny nodded.

"Do you want to go back inside?"

"No," she replied, moving closer to Harry. "I like being out here."

Harry put an arm around her as she pressed close to him. For a while they just sat together, not talking, just enjoying each other's company.

"Harry, Ginny, we've been looking for you forever."

Harry and Ginny shot apart, both blushing madly.

Hermione seemed to have noticed their intrusion as well, and was also blushing. Ron, however, eternally oblivious, kept right on talking.

"Dean said he heard that the finale was going to be great. Come on, it starts in a few minutes."

Harry and Ginny followed Ron and Hermione back into the castle, where the band was still playing. As the song ended, the lead singer addressed the school.

"Thank you Hogwarts! I hope you all had a great night. It's taken me back to my days studying here. We have just one more song for you all tonight, I hope you enjoy it."  
They struck up a song, amidst wild cheering from students, who apparently liked this song best of all. As the song ended, the lead singer raised his wand to the ceiling, firing off a spell. Suddenly, the large balloons that Harry had noticed earlier burst and started raining candy down upon the students.

As the band finished and trooped off stage, the Hogwarts students gathered candy madly. By the time they left, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were all carrying an arm full of sweets.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The ball seemed to be effective in lifting the spirits of the school, and the week following it was pleasant for the most part. Harry didn't really have time to do anything because of homework, lesson plans, and long, grueling Quidditch practices that took up most of the evenings. One unplanned side effect from the ball was a strange awkwardness between Harry and Ginny. After attending together, neither was sure if it meant that they were dating, or just friends. When they met for Quidditch or in the common room, both found it very hard to talk with the other, and neither wanted to ask the other what was going on. It was made even more complicated when Ron confided to Harry that he and Hermione were now dating.

Harry decided that he had to confront Ginny, preferably before that weekend's match against Slytherin. He knew the awkwardness would not benefit the team, and they were going to have to be giving it their all if they wanted to win. So he planned to pull Ginny aside after her Defense class, but things did not go as he planned. The class ran late, so even though he had asked Ginny to stay after before the class had started, by the time her classmates all left, his next class was already filing in. This was not a discussion he wanted to have with an audience, so he told Ginny they would have to talk later. Before she left, however, he saw her pick up her wand off her desk and put it in her bag. The dream he had of Sirius flashed through his memory again, and the mental picture of two crossed wands appeared. Ginny had the other wand from the dream.

Harry didn't find the time to try and talk to Ginny again during the week. On the day of the Quidditch match he woke up late, being so exhausted from the week. He grabbed his robes and broom, and then started to head toward the Great Hall for a quick piece of toast. On second thought, he turned back and also grabbed the mirror he had magically repaired the week before. Tucking it into his pocket, he again left the dormitory.

The other members of the team were already in the locker rooms when Harry arrived.

"Thank Merlin," breathed Katie, "I was starting to think something had happened to you."

"Sorry," Harry replied. "I overslept."

Harry dressed quickly and was ready by the time Katie ordered them out to the field. Harry, however, pulled Ginny back while the others went on ahead.

"I wanted to talk to you before the match," explained Harry. "It hasn't felt the same between us since the ball, and I need to know what is going on."

Ginny looked up at him. "I've felt it too. And I'm so afraid that we are going to ruin our friendship. Maybe I should have just kept admiring you from a distance, and never brought up the ball."

Harry shook his head at once. "No, I don't wish a moment of it different."

"Harry, when we were in Hogsmeade, you said you didn't know how you felt about me. Do you still feel that way?"

"I know that when we were sitting together in the gardens at the ball, I felt happier than I've felt all summer. I wasn't thinking about Sirius, or Voldemort, or anything except that moment."

"Then should we tell Ron and Hermione that we would like to go with them on a double date next Hogsmeade weekend?" Ginny asked with a smile.

Harry nodded. "Oh, and I wanted to give this to you," he added, pulling the mirror out of his pocket.

"What's this?" Ginny asked, examining her reflection in the mirror. "It must be more than just a mirror?"

Harry laughed. "It's something Fred and George would have loved to have had. That mirror is magically connected to another one, which I have. All you have to do is say my name into the mirror, and we can instantly communicate."

"Wow," breathed Ginny. "Where did you get it?"

"Sirius gave one to me last year, just before term started," Harry replied, suddenly very subdued. "I never opened it until it was too late, it was all my fault, I could have avoided the entire Ministry…"

But Harry suddenly found himself speechless, as Ginny had thrown her arms around him and pressed her lips against his.

"It's not your fault," she whispered in his ear. "I believe things happen for a reason, Harry, even if we, never in our entire life, find out what that reason is. I also believe that everything is made clear at the end."

Her words reminded Harry of what Luna Lovegood had told him at the end of last year.

"Ginny, do you believe that we will see the people we loose again one day?"

"Of course," she replied with all seriousness, her arms still wrapped around him.

Harry smiled. "It sounds crazy, but I think Sirius wanted me to give you the mirror. I've been having dreams about him, in the last one he finally spoke. He told me to find the meaning in the dream. I think this is the meaning."

"That's not crazy, Harry," Ginny replied. "What would be crazy is if we didn't got out there and kick some serious Slytherin butt."

"For Sirius, cause I know that would be what he wanted."

They walked out to join the rest of their team on the pitch. Ron raised his eyebrows at them, but didn't say anything.

Madam Hooch, now that all the team members were accounted for, began the formalities. Katie strode forward to shake Malfoy's hand, who had been named Quidditch Captain for Slytherin. They barely touched hands, never mind actually shaking.

Madam Hooch warned them to play fair, though Harry didn't give the Slytherins any more than five minutes before the game turned dirty. He mounted his broom, and waited for Madam Hooch to blow her whistle. He stole a quick glance at Shelby, hoping she was feeling less nervous than he had his first game. As Seeker, he could usually avoid a lot of contact with the players from the other team, but Chasers often got jostled by competing Chasers and Harry hoped Shelby could handle it.

At the first shrill sound of the whistle Harry kicked hard off the ground. It was beautiful Quidditch weather, and he enjoyed the wind through his hair for a few seconds. Below him, the Slytherins had grabbed the Quaffle in the toss up, and were speeding toward a waiting Ron. Harry hadn't gotten to see much of Ron's performance as Keeper, since he had been banned from the team the year before. Ron, however, seemed to have gotten over his initial stage fright and dove to catch the Quaffle on his finger tips, saving it from going through the left hoop. He tossed it back to Katie, who passed it swiftly to Ginny. Harry saw them setting up for one of Katie's new plays, as Katie and Ginny raced down the field, side by side. Shelby flew above them and slightly behind, as they approached the Slytherin goal posts Ginny suddenly slowed, allowing two of the Slytherin Chasers to burst past her. Realizing they had passed their target, they immediately did a 180, but by that time Ginny had deftly thrown the Quaffle upwards, where a speeding Shelby caught it. She fired it at the middle hoop, at what appeared to be an easy save for the Slytherin Keeper, but as Katie had hoped, he didn't expect the ball to come with such force. He blocked the goal, but then immediately dropped the Quaffle. Katie was right where she was supposed to be, and caught the falling ball, throwing it through the right hoop before the Keeper could even dive.

Most of the crowd went wild, as Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw rooted for Gryffindor when they played Slytherin, but the Slytherins made themselves heard with loud boos and hissing.

Harry could only keep half his attention on the game below, since he had the most important task of catching the Snitch. He circled the field, not really expecting to site the small, golden ball this early in the game. Still, he kept a close eye on Malfoy in case he made any sudden moves that would suggest he had spotted the ball before Harry.

Quick glances below to see how the game was progressing showed that Gryffindor was ahead by three goals, though a roar of excitement from the Slytherin side meant they had finally scored. When Harry looked back up, to his horror, he saw Malfoy diving at a very sharp angle, and in front of him, the golden snitch. Harry threw himself into a headlong dive as well, willing his broom to go faster. He was half the field away from Malfoy, who was gaining on the tiny, winged ball. Harry, with a sick, nauseous feeling in his stomach, realized that he would not get to the Snitch in time. Malfoy was reaching out his arm when he suddenly had to roll in mid air to avoid a speeding Bludger.

Andrew went speeding by, chasing the Bludger he had hit that had also saved Harry from loosing the game. From that point on, Harry stayed closer to Malfoy so that he would not find himself in the same situation again. The rest of the game commenced below them, with Gryffindor scoring twice more, though Slytherin also gained another goal.

The next time Harry spotted the Snitch, it was much closer to Malfoy than to Harry. Luckily, it was at Malfoy's back, and he hadn't spotted yet, but Harry knew that if he made a go for it, Malfoy would see him and it would become a close race. Instead, Harry decided on a risky maneuver instead. Taking his eyes off the hovering Snitch, he made an audible gasp and dove down, under Malfoy. Malfoy took the bait and dove after Harry, but Harry pulled up has hard as he could and shot straight up, hoping the Snitch hadn't moved away in the time he hadn't been watching. The Snitch had only fluttered a meter or so away from where Harry first saw it, and he quickly eyed it again. Malfoy had now realized it had been a feint, and was barreling upward as well. Harry, however, had all the head start he needed, and was grasping the Snitch before Malfoy had even reached the same altitude.

When the crowd finally saw that Harry had caught the Snitch a thunderous roar filled the stadium. He landed on the turf, watching his team mates come hurtling toward him. Andrew clapped Harry on the back, congratulating him on the win.

"I should be thanking you," Harry replied. "If you hadn't distracted Malfoy we would have lost."

Andrew shrugged like it was no big deal. "I didn't even realize he was after the Snitch until after I took the shot. I just saw a free shot at Malfoy. Bugger I didn't actually hit him."

The win had put most of Gryffindor in a very excellent mood for the remainder of the weekend. People kept congratulating Harry on his spectacular feint. One person, however, who didn't seem to be warming up to Harry, was Neville. Harry, though, didn't pursue the subject with him, until one night the issue was forced to a head.

Harry and Neville were both in the dormitory together, though both were pretending the other wasn't there. Harry, having miraculously finished his homework early, decided to use the free time to give in to exhaustion and go to bed early. Neville, who apparently had not been feeling well, was sitting on his bed deeply absorbed in a Herbology book. He had previously been to see Madam Pompfrey to receive a dose of Pepper-Up potion.

Ron entered the dormitory quickly, shutting the door forcefully behind him and disturbing Harry's slumber.

"Some first year keeps asking about you," Ron complained to Harry. "I finally managed to get up here, but he tried to follow me. Didn't like it much when I told him he couldn't come in."

Harry had suddenly found himself reaching idol status among the first years, between his fame, Quidditch abilities, and DA position.

"Why not let him in," Neville replied sarcastically. "Harry has seemed to have taken over everywhere else."

Harry, both tired and grumpy, was not about to just sit around a listen to Neville's tantrum over Ginny.

"I have not taken over everywhere," Harry growled back, exceptionally angry that Neville was making him sound as power hungry as Voldemort.

Neville, for his part, had taken great strides over the last 6 years in coming out of his shell and learning to defend himself. Not only would he not hold back against Malfoy, but it also applied to his friends.

"You could have fooled me," Neville fired back, slamming his book down onto his bed. "Everyone loves you at Quidditch, you've been made a professor, and now, apparently, you can have any girl…"

"She didn't want to go with you Neville!" Harry yelled. "She approached me; she wanted to go with_ me_!"

Neville, however, seemed to ignore Harry's statement, or at least didn't let it affect him. He simply continued on, "you're Dumbledore's pet and the whole world things you are their savior. What is there left for you to do?"

Harry was seething by this point. He hadn't felt this mad since the beginning of the year before. "Savior, huh? That's funny, since until a few months ago the entire wizarding world thought I was a lying, attention craving mental case. But I suppose you would want to be in my place instead. Do you want dead parents, a scar, and some psycho out to kill you? Could have stopped him from getting the Sorcerer's Stone, or rescued Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets? How about watching one of your peers get murdered and still escape yourself? Do you want that, Neville? Because you have no idea how close you were!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Neville demanded, looking slightly shocked at Harry's accusation.

Harry knew he was letting his mouth run away with him, but he was too angry to care. "Voldemort had a motive to come after me, but he didn't know it was me by name. He went after a baby boy, born at the end of July, whose parents had met and escaped Voldemort three times."

Neville's eyes were wide with fear and understanding. "You're lying," he stammered.

"Don't call me a liar," Harry warned, pointing his wand at Neville, though not planning on using it."

Neville, in return, pulled out his wand as well. "If Voldemort had been after me as a baby, my Gram would have told me."

"Not likely," replied Harry, who was not ready to let the argument die.

"Why not?"

"Can't tell you," oozed Harry, sounding very satisfied about it.

"Then how can I know you are telling the truth?"

"How else would I have known how many times your parents escaped Voldemort?"

Neville looked furious because he knew Harry had a point and knowledge he wasn't sharing with him.

At that moment Dean walked in, completely unaware of the situation he was intruding in. When he saw Harry and Neville pointing wands at each other he looked shocked. "Why haven't you stopped them?" he asked Ron, who was also still standing in the doorway, mouth slightly agape.

Ron seemed too shocked by the situation to reply.

Seeing that neither Harry nor Neville was going to back down, Dean took actions into his own hands. "Expelliarmus," he exclaimed, sending the disarming spell first at Harry, them rapidly firing off another one at Neville. The spell hit Neville, sending his wand into the air, but Harry had side stepped it, avoiding the spell. However, instead of harmlessly bouncing off the wall, it hit the wall between Harry and Ron's bed and blew a hole in it.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, finally pulled out of his daze.

Dean was looking at his wand in wonder. "I didn't know a Disarming Spell could be THAT powerful!"

"A single one can't be," Harry replied, whose rage seemed to have dispelled with the explosion.

"Well, for an 'it can't' that seems like a rather large, real, hole," commented Ron.

Harry was now down on his hands and knees, examining the hole that seemed to only go through the first layer of stone. "The stone here was really, really, thin. I think one good kick may have done it in. Hey, I think there is something in here."

The spat was now thoroughly forgotten, as Ron, Dean, and Neville joined Harry on the floor.

"What is it?" inquired Dean.

"Can't tell yet," Harry replied, peering into the dark hole. "Lumos." He pushed away debris with the tip of his wand. Finally, the light settled on a stone tablet near the back on the crevice. Putting down his wand, Harry pulled the square piece of stone out with two hands. Blowing the dust off, Harry could start to see words inscribed on the tablet, laid out in a poetic form. He read it out loud to the others.

"These words suppose the future to tell

Of new wars and civil strife as well

We founders are destined to write down

Saving clues so the school does not drown

In petty arguments over crown.

Seek out the secret within these walls

And prevent the come of evil's calls

Four tasks to test each house's merit

The finder will knowledge inherit.

To those who are courageous and bold

I send you to a place of evil's hold

Follow the path by moonlight's cool glow

Through trees and past rushing waters' flow

Till thy finds a stone of shining hue

The words upon it will be thy next clue."

"Blimey, what does that mean?" Ron asked after Harry finished reading.

Everyone shrugged.

"It sounds sort of like what the Sorting Hat sang at the start of term," put in Harry. "But, until tomorrow, I will only be able to think about it in my dreams. I'm dead tired."

"Harry, before you go to sleep…" started Neville.

"Yeah, I owe you an apology, Neville," Harry said, not letting Neville finish. "I didn't think about how you felt about Ginny when I asked her to the dance. I wasn't trying to steal her away from going with you."

But Neville shook his head. "That's not what I was going to say. I wanted to know about V- Voldemort and me as a baby." Neville seemed to have reverted back to his timid self when he asked this.

The full brunt of what Harry had let slip finally hit him. Mentally kicking himself, he looked at Neville for a few seconds before replying. He knew that he couldn't tell him about the prophecy, but he also knew it wasn't fair, after spilling so much during the argument, to just leave him hanging.

"I think we had better go see Dumbledore about that," Harry replied heavily. "I need to tell him what happened, if he doesn't already know that is."

"Now? But it's after curfew," Neville pointed out, not wanting to end up with detention for being caught out of the dorm after hours.

"I'll get us there without getting caught," Harry assured, pulling the blank Marauder's Map out of his trunk.

Harry and Neville didn't speak while they walked down the empty corridors, partly because of their fight, and partly because they were trying to remain as silent as possible so as to not get caught. Harry had the map out, and was checking the corridors ahead of them for any teachers or Filch. As promised, they made it to Dumbledore's office without encountering another person. Harry gave the password and the statue moved to reveal the moving staircase.

Neville looked amazed by the staircase and portraits that lined the way up. Harry had forgotten how few people had ever been inside the Headmaster's office. As usual, Harry hadn't even raised his fist to knock on the door before he heard Dumbledore say, "Come in, Mr. Potter and Mr. Longbottom."

Harry pushed open the door, walking into the office. Neville had paused at the door in utter astonishment over the office. Harry, however, was feeling very nervous at the moment. He did not know if what he had told Neville had broken his oath to the Order, and if it did, how severe the punishment would be. The last thing he wanted was to be kicked out of the Order.

"I didn't expect to be seeing you both tonight," said Dumbledore, bringing both Harry and Neville out of their own thoughts. "I sense, however, that you haven't left your nice, warm common rooms to just show Neville here the décor of my office."

Harry nodded, swallowing before confessing his discretions. "I need to apologize, Professor…"

Dumbledore had held up a hand, silencing Harry immediately. "First, let me know what you think you did wrong, and then you can decide whether or not you need to apologize."

Harry nodded again. "Neville and I got into a small argument, and I said some things that I should not have in the heat of the moment. I brought Neville to see you because he deserves an explanation for what I said, and I'm not sure what to tell him."

"And what did you tell him?" asked Dumbledore, though Harry had a very strong suspicion that he already knew, and just wanted to hear Harry say it.

"I told him that he didn't know how close to being in my place he was. I told him that Voldemort had gone after a boy born at the end of July, and whose parents had thrice defied Voldemort, and I told him that it was only by chance that I was chosen over him."

Dumbledore nodded gravely as Harry finished speaking. Harry couldn't read his expression, which was worse than being scolded outright.

"Neville, if you would please sit down, I do owe you an explanation. Harry, you may return to your dormitory, as I'm sure you are tired."

Harry turned to leave, but before going out the door, he turned back again. "Professor, did I, um, break any _rules_?"

Dumbledore looked up at Harry from his desk. "You do not seem to have done too much damage, Harry, but we will have to speak about this when you come to see me next Tuesday."

Harry sighed with some relief as he descending the stairs. If Dumbledore was going to expel him from the Order, he probably would have asked him to wait till after he finished talking to Neville.

When Harry saw Neville the next day, everything seemed to be back to the way it had been before the ball. Harry didn't ask Neville what Dumbledore had told him, nor did Neville ask Harry anything else about Voldemort.


	16. Chapter 16

Here is the riddle found on the stone tablet at the end of the last chapter so you don't have to keep referring back to the other chapter.

These words suppose the future to tell

Of new wars and civil strife as well

We founders are destined to write down

Saving clues so the school does not drown

In petty arguments over crown.

Seek out the secret within these walls

And prevent the come of evil's calls

Four tasks to test each house's merit

The finder will knowledge inherit.

To those who are courageous and bold

I send you to a place of evil's hold

Follow the path by moonlights cool glow

Through trees and past rushing waters' flow

Till thy finds a stone of shining hue

The words upon it will be thy next clue.

Chapter 16

The Friday after they had found the stone tablet inside the wall of Gryffindor Tower, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Dean, and Seamus were all crowded around a table in the Common Room, studying the inscription.

"So, any idea what it means?" Ron asked Hermione, who had been quietly reading and re-reading the riddle.

She smiled in her usual way. "I think I have some idea of what is says, but I want to go double check with _Hogwarts, A History_ first." She popped up from her seat and sprinted up the stairs to retrieve the book from her trunk.

"You mean you don't have it memorized?" Ron teased when she returned with the often read copy.

The others waited with anticipation while she flipped through pages, apparently searching for the right passage.

"Here it is," she finally exclaimed, stopping just short of the end. "It's the chapter on Hogwarts' myth and legend. It reads: One of the most popular legends concerning the four founders is that of their secret crypt within Hogwarts, which is rumored to hold the knowledge on how to keep Hogwarts from falling during a civil war. The legend tells of a prophecy of unknown origin, which warned the founders that sometime in the future Hogwarts would be threatened from within, and this could possibly bring about the school's destruction. In order to prevent this from happening, the founders supposedly created a series of clues, four in all, each written by one of the founders. The first clue, written by Gryffindor, will lead to the second, which leads to the third, and so on. The fourth clue, Slytherin's, is said to reveal the location of the crypt built in Hogwarts to house the founders when they died. Inside the crypt would also be hidden the solution to saving Hogwarts. However, the school has been thoroughly searched for a crypt, and none has been discovered. Also, the location of Gryffindor's initial clue also remains a mystery. Moreover, if a prophecy did indeed exist, it likely prophesized Slytherin's abandonment of the school and not an event in the distant future. Many of the wizards involved in studying this particular legend have deemed it nothing more than a myth, placing it in the same fictional category as The Chamber of Secrets."

The pieces were starting to fit together inside Harry's head. "So, this is Godric Gryffindor's clue?"

Hermione nodded in agreement. "The first part of the riddle explains it. 'These words suppose the future to tell, of wars and civil strife as well,' is referring to the prophecy. Then, the line, 'Four taks to test each house's merit, the finder will knowledge inherit,' refers to the four clues. Each clue must test the attributes of each house. That explains why Gryffindor's task, since he valued bravery and courage, sends us into theForbidden Forest."

"TheForbidden Forest!" Ron exclaimed, "Where did you get that?"

"What else at Hogwarts can be described as 'a place of evil's hold,' and a place with paths, trees, water, and stones?"

"Why does it always have to be the Forest?" Ron moaned.

"But if the prophecy warned the founders of a time when the school would be divided against itself, why would we find it now? And why would Gryffindor hide his clue in the wall of a tower? It was only luck that it was found in the first place," commented Dean.

"Well, spells firing inside a dormitory, among members of the same house would be a result of the worst kind of division within the school," mused Ginny. "So it makes sense. We are regularly in competition with the other houses, but not usually among ourselves."

"But the whole school wasn't fighting, just Harry and Neville," returned Seamus. "That hardly constitutes a civil war."

"Well, the legend doesn't say the secret must be discovered during the civil war. If it is discovered before hand, then it can be used during it, whenever it arises," Harry theorized.

Hermione, however, didn't seem to agree, but didn't voice her opinion.

"So, who is going to go into the forest?" Neville asked tentatively.

"I'll go," Harry volunteered immediately.

"So will I," piped in Ginny.

"No you won't," forbade Harry. "I'll go alone. The less people the less likely anything will notice we are in there."

"We are not letting you go into the Forbidden Forest alone!" retorted Hermione, "right Ron?"

Ron, however, looked like he was all for letting Harry go in and staying out himself. Neville, Dean, and Seamus also seemed to be of Ron's persuasion as well.

"Fine then, Ginny and I will accompany Harry," Hermione announced.

"No you won't," Harry stated again. "I'll take my cloak, get in and out, and no one will be the wiser."

"You can either let us come with you, or we can curse you, tie you to your bed, and go ourselves," threatened Ginny, who did not like being told she couldn't do things.

Harry, despite still believing it would be easier to find the next clue by himself, finally gave in to Hermione and Ginny, and told them they could come with him. They decided they would go the next night, after the Hogsmeade trip that was planned.

Harry was just about to leave the Common Room to go to bed when Professor McGonagall entered the Common Room through the portrait hole.

"Ahh, I'm glad to see that you are still awake Potter, Professor Dumbledore would like a word with you."

"Now?" Harry asked, surprised that he would be asked to go see the Headmaster at such a late hour. He vaguely wondered if he was in trouble with the Order over what he had shouted at Neville, and it had only taken Dumbledore this long to reprimand him because he had to contact the other members of the Order to see what they thought about his rule breaking. Hoping that it was not the case, he followed McGonagall back out into the corridor.

McGonagall led him down the familiar passages towards Dumbledore's office. About half way there, Filch jumped out from behind a tapestry, wheezing and huffing from hurrying to catch what he thought were miscreants. He seemed severely disappointed to find Harry in the company of a Professor.

"Is there something I can help you with, Argus?" asked McGonagall.

"My apologies, Professor, I thought I heard students out of bed," Filch drawled.

"Well, we were just off to see the Headmaster."

At this, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear in Filch's eyes and he said with a smile "Oh, and what rule has he broken this time?"

"None, Argus, Professor Dumbledore simply requested an audience with him. I certainly hope we didn't trouble you."

Filch once again looked crestfallen at hearing that Harry was being invited to friendly, midnight chats with Dumbledore.

When they finally reached Dumbledore's office, Harry was again starting to get a nervous knot in his stomach. Although Professor McGonagall had seemed most sincere in telling Filch that he had done nothing wrong, Harry couldn't help but wonder if he had.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, busily scratching away at a long roll of parchment in front of him. When Harry entered he rolled the scroll back up, tucking it away somewhere inside his desk. To Harry's great disgust, Snape was also sitting in one of the puffy chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"I certainly hope I didn't wake you, Harry," Dumbledore began.

"No," Harry replied, eyeing Snape warily.

"Please, sit down, make yourself comfortable."

Harry sat, but didn't feel comfortable with Snape sitting next to him. Perhaps Snape had reported that Harry wasn't improving any at his Occlumency, and this, coupled with Harry's spat with Neville, meant he wasn't upholding his end of the deal that got him into the Order.

"Let me explain why you are here, Harry," said Dumbledore, again seeming to read Harry's thoughts. "Professor Snape has been talking with Draco Malfoy about his excursions outside of Hogsmeade. Although he has managed to ascertain that Mr. Malfoy is indeed meeting with his father, among other valuable information, but Mr. Malfoy had not yet disclosed the location he is Apparating to."

"I'm sorry, Professor, but how can I help with that?" Harry asked.

"Consider it your first mission for the Order," Dumbledore replied with a smile. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"You have in your possession a cloak that will allow you to follow Malfoy without his knowing about it. So tomorrow, while at Hogsmeade, I would like you to trail Mr. Malfoy and his friends. You're main objective is to somehow get him to drink this," Dumbledore placed a small vial of clear liquid on his desk. "I would suggest pouring it into a Butterbeer. This potion will allow us to perform a spell so that when Mr. Malfoy Apparates, we can track him and find out the location of Lucious Malfoy and the other escaped Death Eaters."

"But why do you want me to do it? Wouldn't it be easier for Sna…I mean, Professor Snape to invite Malfoy to tea or something and give it to him then?" wondered Harry.

"Must you always question everything?" sneered Snape.

"Ahh, but sometimes questioning is necessary, Severus. I do not want students who just blindly follow whatever they are told, as I'm sure you'll agree."

Snape did not look like he agreed, but Dumbledore apparently did not notice, and instead continued with his explanation to Harry. "The problem with Professor Snape administering the potion is that it must be taken within two hours before Apparating, so the most ideal place to administer it is at Hogsmeade."

Even though it would mean he would be late for the double date he and Ginny were planning with Ron and Hermione, in the end, Harry agreed to the mission. He took the vial and returned to dormitory.

The next morning, Harry told Ginny, Hermione, and Ron why Dumbledore had asked him to come see him the night before.

"Of course I understand," Ginny replied to Harry's confession that he would be late for their date as well. "Just be careful. I can't even imagine the explaining that would have to be done if Malfoy were to catch you."

"Catch me? He can't even catch the Snitch!"

Ginny giggled a little, but still gave him a serious look as she repeated, "be careful," before giving him a quick kiss and heading back to the Common Room.

Harry, instead of going back to the Common Room, donned his invisibility cloak to keep watch over the hallway that led to the Slytherin Common Room. He did not want to miss Malfoy and then spend precious time searching all of Hogsmeade for him. Harry had almost a full, boring hour to wait before Malfoy finally made his appearance. He was accompanied, as usual, by Crabbe and Goyle. Silent and invisible, Harry followed the three Slytherins out the front doors and into Hogsmeade. Their first stop was Honeydukes, where Crabbe and Goyle bought enough sweets between them to last the next century. Harry, afraid to accidentally stand on someone's foot or bump into another student in the already crowded candy store, stood outside, watching Malfoy from the window. When Malfoy and his cronies left, Harry distinctively heard Malfoy ask Crabbe, "Ok, you've got your stash of candy, let's go back to the castle now."

_No,_ Harry thought,_ go to The Three Broomsticks and then Apparate._

Luckily, Goyle seemed to be thinking along the same lines of Harry, because he whined, "But what about the Three Broomsticks, I want some Butterbeer before going back."

"Ok, fine, just hurry up," prodded Malfoy, sounding very impatient about something.

Harry tracked them, dodging students, until they reached the Three Broomsticks. Along the way he saw Ron, Hermione, and Ginny also walking through the village. Silently cursing Malfoy for causing him to be trailing him instead of on his date, Harry slipped into the busy tavern.

With so many people crammed into such a small space, Harry now had to be very careful to avoid everyone else. Almost immediately, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed their way through the crowd to the counter, leaving Harry far behind, carefully dancing around the other students. Luck seemed to be on his side, though, because, Malfoy, in his impatient mood, ordered the drinks to go. Crabbe and Goyle also ordered a half dozen bottles each, shoving them into their Honeydukes' bags. They were heading for the door as Harry fought to get back out again without being discovered. By the time he finally got out the door, Malfoy and his gang was already several meters ahead, and walking quickly. Harry knew he needed something to distract Malfoy long enough to pour the potion into his bottle. Pulling out his wand, and pointing just the end out of his cloak, Harry took aim and whispered, "Diffindo." The satchel of gold hanging from Malfoy's waist burst open, spilling Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts into the street.

Cursing loudly, Malfoy put down his Butterbeer and started picking up the coins, thrusting them into the pockets of his cloak. Harry seized the opportunity, quickly catching up with Malfoy and uncorking the vial. Hoping no one else would see a disembodied hand, he quickly poured out the contents of the vial into Malfoy's Butterbeer.

Malfoy finished picking up the coins soon after, and standing back up, he took a swig from his Butterbeer and continued down the street again. Harry, although very tempted to turn back now and join Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, decided he had best make sure Malfoy would Apparate. Tagging along unnoticed, Harry realized that Malfoy was not heading out toward the rocky cave area, but back towards the castle.

_No, you are supposed to Apparate_ he thought desperately, _or I've just wasted my afternoon for nothing._

When the gates marking the outer perimeter of Hogwarts appeared, Harry realized that Malfoy had no intention of going to visit his father that day. He watched as they passed through the gate, just to make sure they didn't wait and Apparate at the very last moment. Before turning back to join his friends, Harry heard Malfoy proclaim, "I won't miss that place. That butterbeer tasted awful, you two lugs probably just bought a dozen bad batches."

Harry made sure Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were out of sight, and no one else was around, when he finally took off his invisibility cloak. Stuffing it into his bag, he headed back toward Hogsmeade. Half way there, he saw something strange in the air. A thick, black column of smoke was drifting upward lazily. From the ground, Harry could now hear the sound of screaming. From somewhere, someone was screaming his name, but there was no one near him, until he realized it was coming from his pocket. Harry pulled out his part of the magical mirror, and looking into it he saw Ginny's terrified face.

"Harry, Death Eaters are attacking Hogsmeade!"

"Don't worry, I'm on my way," she shouted back to the mirror, starting to sprint as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Are you insane? Go get Dumbledore!"

"I'm not leaving you, Ron, and Hermione," Harry replied firmly, "Where are you?"

"The Three Broomsticks."

Harry shoved the mirror back into his pocket. As he got closer to Hogsmeade, students started passing him, running in the other direction. He knew that as soon as they got back to the school the teachers would be alerted, but it would still take nearly 10 minutes for the teachers to get to Hogsmeade. Harry started watching for any of the older students who might be able to Apparate and alert the Ministry of Magic, but the few he recognized didn't stop when he called their names.

The plume of smoke was coming from Honeydukes, which was burning spectacularly. It was complete chaos around Harry. Students and shop keepers were running in all directions, and every once in a while Harry would catch a glimpse of a hooded figure amid the frantic crowd. However, to fire a spell at them would have been impossible without hitting another student. Harry's only thought was to get to the Three Broomsticks and to find Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.

The buildings on either side of the Three Broomsticks were on fire, and the smoke was rapidly filling the pub as well. Harry barreled inside, coughing as the thick smoke hit his lungs. Inside he could see three masked Death Eaters, and in the corner, behind a fort of overturned tables was a group of huddling Hogwarts students. Harry, though, was at least partially happy to see that they were firing spells back at the Death Eaters.

Sweeping his wand in front of him, Harry banished one of the remaining tables at one of the three Death Eaters, hitting him in the back of the head. The Death Eater collapsed to the ground, the table on top of him, a dark red hue rapidly staining his hood. This, however, caused the other two Death Eaters to turn their attention to Harry. One fired off a spell in his direction, but Harry dove out of the way, rolling toward the pent up students. The other Death Eater also tried to curse Harry, who knowing he didn't have time to move, yelled, "Protego!" The shield was barely strong enough to keep the spell from hitting him, but gave him enough time to dive behind the make shift fort.

"Are you alright?" was the first thing out of his mouth.

Ron, whose hand appeared to be bleeding rather badly, along with a much shaken up looking Ginny and Hermione nodded 'yes.' Looking at the others, Harry saw two students lying prone on the floor. One was a Gryffindor third year, the other a Hufflepuff fourth year. The image of Cedric Diggory laying spread eagle passed through Harry's memory and he nearly retched. He gave Ginny a look that begged her to tell him that they had just been knocked out, but her eyes seemed to already tell him the answer. A spell hit the ceiling above them, blasting a hole in it and sending dust and debris everywhere. Harry was finding it hard to breath because of the ever increasing smoke. He fired off a spell over the top of the tables, but without risking sticking his head out he knew his chances of hitting anything were slim. So, making the split second decision, Harry stood up behind the barrier and aimed a stunning spell at one of the blurry, smoke obscured, Death Eaters. He was satisfied to see his target fall, but Harry staggered backwards a half second later as the other Death Eater hit him with a strange spell. However, the spell didn't seem to have any effect, and Harry promptly ducked back down.

"Are you ok?" Ginny asked, shaking madly from terror.

Harry was about to nod when he started to feel a little bit dizzy. Sitting down, he put his hands up to his head. It felt like he wasn't getting any blood to his head, yet there seemed to be a painful pounding of blood in his feet. He was looking into Ginny's concerned face when he vision went black and he lost consciousness.


	17. Chapter 17

Authors note: I've resubmitted this chapter, because after writing it and posting it, I checked the notes I keep on what is going to happen in later chapters, so that I could start chapter 18. I noticed that I needed to have Hufflepuff win the Quidditch match instead of Ravenclaw, so I have changed that. You won't know why for several more chapters, though.

Chapter 17

When Harry opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a set of brown eyes starring back at him, tear stained and unblinking.

"Ginny?" he mumbled, blinking to try and clear his fuzzy vision. By this point in his Hogwarts career, he didn't even need to ask where he was; he knew the clean smell and firm feel of a Hogwarts infirmary mattress by heart.

Ginny was now crying again, tears were streaming down her face and splashing onto Harry.

"What are you crying for?" Harry asked. "Did something happen to Hermione or Ron?"

Ginny just started crying harder. Finally, she shook her head. "I was worried about you!" she stammered through the sobs.

"Me?"

"I was so afraid you were going to die!" Ginny shrieked, throwing her arms around him.

"Die! How long was I out for?"

"Nearly two days," replied another voice.

Ginny let go of Harry's neck and he saw Dumbledore settling himself down beside Harry's bed. Madam Pomfrey was hovering just behind him, looking sterner than ever.

"I think you need to be heading off to class now, Miss. Weasley," Dumbledore instructed. "You've seen that Harry is fine."

Ginny nodded obediently, whipping the tears from her eyes. Leaving, she dropped Harry's hand, which he only then realized she had been clinging to.

Harry watched Ginny leave, and then turned to Dumbledore, asking, "What happened to me?"

"What happened to you!" clucked Madam Pomfrey instead, bustling around him, feeling his forehead and shining lights in his eyes. "You went and got yourself hit with a Himatos Hex. Honestly, Mr. Potter, I do believe you have broken the all time record for number of infirmary stays."

"Himatos Hex?" repeated Harry. "I've never heard of it."

"That's because it's not used by decent wizards," Madam Pomfrey responded.

"I can take it from here, Poppy," instructed Dumbledore. "I believe you have plenty of other charges to attend to."

"Merlin knows," she puffed, turning to the bed beside Harry. It was only then that Harry noticed that all the beds in the ward were full. The full memory of what happened before he passed out struck him.

"Hogsmeade! Professor what happened! The two students I saw at the Three Broomsticks…"

Professor Dumbledore raised a hand, silencing Harry. Harry noticed that the usual twinkle in his eyes was gone; there was no hidden laughter there. Instead, it was replaced by something else, something Harry had never seen before on Dumbledore's face. Whether it was fear, angst, or grief, Harry couldn't tell, but it is what shook him most of all.

"I can only tell you what we know for sure, Harry. We know that Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts, we know that it was only a quick strike operation, because they all Apparated when they saw the other teachers and I coming. They were not looking for a fight, just enough time to wreak as much havoc as possible."

"So you didn't catch any of them?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "We captured Dolohov, in a sense."

"In a sense? What, was he stunned or something?"

"Dolohov was in the Three Broomsticks, Harry, when you hit him with the table you killed him."

"I killed him!" sputtered Harry. "Professor, you have to believe me, I didn't mean to kill him, I…"

"Harry, you are not in trouble. You do not have to explain."

The wheels were turning in Harry's head; he knew he had heard of Dolohov before. "Wait, wasn't Dolohov the one who injured Hermione in the Department of Mysteries?"

Dumbledore nodded and suddenly Harry did not feel remorseful anymore.

"And the two students I saw in the Three Broomsticks?" inquired Harry.

Dumbledore looked very sober. "In total, five Hogwarts students died in Hogsmeade, including the two you saw in the Three Broomsticks. Dozens others were hurt, though you were one of the worst cases. It was Professor Snape who got to Hogsmeade first, he recognized the symptoms and performed an effective counter curse, even then it was still touch and go that first day."

Not sure he really wanted to know the answer, Harry asked, "and what exactly did the Himatos Hex do to me?"

"The Himatos Hex causes your blood to weigh ten times what it normally would, thus making it impossible for your heart to pump it through your body. You blacked out because your brain was not receiving oxygenated blood. Essentially, it's like your heart stopped beating. Without a counter curse soon after, most people would die from the hex."

"So I was out for two days because of just one hex?"

"Since we didn't know how long your brain had been deprived of oxygen, Madam Pompfrey gave you a potion to keep you asleep for the first day. We wanted to make sure you didn't have any permanent brain damage before letting you wake up naturally."

"So I have Professor Snape to thank for saving my life?"

"Despite your mutual animosity towards each other, Professor Snape would not let you die if there was anything he could do to prevent it."

Harry, somehow, even after hearing how Snape had saved his life yet again, could not bring himself to believe Dumbledore.

"So now that I'm awake, when can I get back to Gryffindor Tower? I want to be able to teach my classes."

Madam Pomfrey was walking by as he asked this, and quickly answered him. "You will not be leaving this hospital wing for at least another week, Mr. Potter."

"A week, but I feel fine now. I promise I'll rest a bit in the dormitory…"

"I wasn't born yesterday, Mr. Potter, I know very well you will do no such thing. I know what your schedule must be like with your Quidditch and classes and teaching. Besides, as well as you may feel, you are not at all healed yet. Just try moving your feet!"

Harry hadn't really been paying attention to his feet, he had passed out after all, not broken both ankles. Wiggling his toes, he was surprised to feel pain and tension all through his legs. Giving him a stern look, Madam Pomfrey walked to his feet, which had been propped up on several pillows. Pulling the sheets down, she let Harry have a look at his feet. Harry, however, had to look away rather quickly. Both his feet were bruised severely, black and blue shown everywhere, and by the looks of it, the bruising continued up his legs as well.

"Another effect of the Himatos Hex," she said calmly. "The blood becomes heavy and sinks to the feet, bursting the capillaries and causing massive hemorrhaging. You won't be walking for at least another week."

She gently placed the sheet back over Harry's feet and walked away to tend the numerous other charges.

"Professor," began Harry, whose memory of the events of two days ago was still slowly returning. "I trailed Malfoy like you asked me, and got him to drink the potion, but he never Disapparated. I think he knew the attack was coming."

Dumbledore nodded. "We suspect that as well, for Professor Snape first suspected there was going to be trouble when he walked into the Slytherin Common Room and saw all the Slytherins there. No Slytherin appeared to be in Hogsmeade during the attacks, however, we can't prove they knew of or had anything to do with the attack…"

"But it's Malfoy; there is no way they all just stayed behind by accident! Malfoy must have been told by his father and he told the other Slytherins…"

"Harry, I know it seems unfair, but expelling the entire Slytherin house is not a viable solution. Those who may still be faithful to the school, and yes, not all Slytherins are in league with Voldemort, would turn against us. We would only be handing Voldemort more supporters."

"So that's it? We don't know what motive the Death Eaters had for attacking Hogsmeade other than to wreak havoc?"

"Now I thought you would have worked out the solution to that yourself Harry. Voldemort enjoys wreaking havoc, yes, but he also enjoys mind games. Attacking Hogsmeade was more a psychological attack on the wizarding world than anything else. Not only does it shake up the students here, but their parents, and almost every other wizard."

"But seeing their children attacked, won't that infuriate people, cause them to join the cause to defeat Voldemort?"

"It may, but Voldemort was willing to risk more people standing up to him. What he really hopes is that people will not see Hogwarts as a safe place, close down the school, bring their children home. Then he hopes that at home the do not learn, as they would here, that they should stand up to him, but instead to cower in fear or give in."

"They aren't going to close down Hogwarts, are they?"

"Not if I have any say in the matter. Now, I have business I need to be attending to and I'm sure your friends will be visiting the second their classes let out, so right now I think Madam Pomfrey would want you to rest," smiled Dumbledore, rising from his seat.

"Professor, would it be alright if I still planned out my DA lessons so my classes could keep on schedule. Whoever is filling in could instruct them, just as I would have."

"An excellent idea, Harry, I will ask Madam Pompfrey to get you some parchment, ink, and a quill."

But the witch who brought Harry the writing materials was not Madam Pomfrey, but a rather young and pretty woman who Harry vaguely recognized.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked after he thanked her for the parchment and ink.

She smiled. "I'm Cornelia Weathers. I was in my seventh year here, in Gryffindor, when you were in your second year, so you probably saw me around the Common Room. I'm an apprentice healer now at St. Mungo's. They sent two of us to help Madam Pomfrey with all her patients, as well as to help us gain experience."

Harry, after two solid days of sleep, was not at all tired, so he whittled away the rest of the afternoon by writing out detailed lesson plans. As Dumbledore had predicted, almost as soon as the final bell had rung, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny showed up in the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey very strictly told them they had to be quite so they didn't disturb her other patients, then let them in to see Harry.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Hermione had cooed immediately.

"I'm fine. Ron, how's your hand?"

"Great," Ron grinned, showing Harry his palm. "Madam Pomfrey healed it in a second."

"So," said Harry, lowering his voice so only they could hear him. "I guess our plans for the Forbidden Forest fell threw, huh?"

The others nodded.

"Just give me a week till Madam Pomfrey finally releases me, and then we will go," instructed Harry.

"You sound much too cheerful when you talk about the Forbidden Forest," commented Ron, who turned pale at the very mention of an excursion into the trees.

Harry laughed. "I can't help that I'm an adrenaline junky. Danger excites me."

"After Hogsmeade I would have thought you would have had all the adrenaline you could handle," Ginny said quietly. She had gone back to clinging to his hand, as she had done earlier.

"Ginny, I am fine, really I am," he replied, hoping she didn't burst into tears again.

The friends spend the rest of the evening talking cheerfully, trying not to think about the events of the weekend. When Madam Pomfrey finally shooed them out, Ginny lingered behind just long enough to give Harry a very tender kiss on the lips that left his whole body tingling.

With nothing better to do than the homework Hermione brought him faithfully everyday, Harry got to talking with the students on either side of him, a 4th year Hufflepuff boy on his right and a 5th year Ravenclaw boy on his left. They, they decided, must be what Madam Pomfrey considered the worst of her cases, as they were the only ones still left in the infirmary by the Friday after the attack. So, realizing they were going to be the only people left in the castle during that weekend's Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, they began to beg Madam Pomfrey to let them attend. At first, she seemed deaf to their pleas, but when Brian, the 5th year Ravenclaw, brought up the fact that they knew there was to be a memorial service for their fallen classmates before the match, Madam Pomfrey finally relented.

So, that Saturday morning Ron showed up early to help Harry change into normal clothes so that he wouldn't have to attend the match in hospital robes. Madam Pomfrey had bewitched what looked like three ordinary Muggle wheel chairs to move by themselves so that they could go over the Hogwarts lawns and get to the Quidditch Pitch. Making sure each of her wards were tightly bundled in coats, scarves, and gloves to keep away the late November chill, Madam Pomfrey sent Cornelia, the apprentice healer, to chaperone them and make sure they didn't hurt themselves by cheering too exuberantly. Harry heard her tell Cornelia specifically that she was to bind Harry to his chair if he tired to stand up and cheer.

The little caravan of wheel chairs moved out of the hospital wing under their own, magical power. Harry and Ron were joined by Hermione and Ginny just outside the Great Hall, and together they made their way down toward the pitch. Harry was quite impressed by his magical mode of transportation. The wheel chair moved along steadily, but never once bounced or jerked on a rock or uneven patch of grass. A portion of the stands had been modified with a ramp and an area to park the three wheel chairs, though it still afforded quite a view of the action.

The Quidditch players trooped out onto the pitch, along with Madam Hooch, but before mounting their brooms they stood respectively to hear the names of the five students who had been killed, 2 from Gryffindor, 2 from Hufflepuff, and 1 from Ravenclaw, and observe a minute of silence for each student. In the stands, many of the students wept openly. Hermione and Ginny both cried silently, while Harry and Ron tried their best to present a stoic air. The five minutes of silence was muffled only by sobs and sniffles, though Harry noticed barely anyone was sitting in the Slytherin stands. It was only after the memorial was finished that the other Slytherins slunk into the stands to watch the game.

The game was not quick, as Harry thought it would be, even though the Ravenclaw team had opted to play with only six players. The Ravenclaw student who had been killed had been a Chaser, and out of respect to her, the rest of the team decided to play the match one player short. Her broom was placed ceremoniously on the field, with a pile of flowers beside it.

Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for Cho, as he watched her hunt for the Snitch high above his head. He knew that Cedric's death still plagued her, and the death of another close friend would not better the situation.

Harry noticed that neither team was playing with their usual vigor, plus the lack of a Chaser was really hurting the Ravenclaw team. Even the crowd was subdued, and even the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students cheered when the opposing team scored. The school seemed to be sharing the loss.

The game ended with a victory for Hufflepuff with a rather good catch by their Seeker. Harry took note of how he flew, knowing he would have to face him later in the Quidditch season. By the time the game ended Harry was sufficiently chilled from just sitting still that the thought of his warm infirmary bed wasn't so bad anymore. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walked him back up to the hospital wing, where they stayed to visit with him for awhile.

After Madam Pomfrey had left them alone – she had been over to get Harry to take the nasty tasting tonics and potions that he had to take three times a day – Harry turned to Hermione to ask her a question.

"What has the Daily Prophet had to say about the attacks?"

Hermione looked uncomfortable at the question, but recovered and smiled when she answered, "Oh, you know, they reported what happened, but that was all."

Harry knew Hermione for a long enough time now that he could tell when she was not telling him everything. "Come on Hermione, I know how the Daily Prophet is. They must have some angle on this."

Now Ginny and Ron were looking uncomfortable as well, apparently they knew what was being printed in the Daily Prophet as well.

"It's not Rita Skeeter again, is it?"

"No," Hermione said, drawing the word out, "but there are some people there who are apparently trying to emulate her work."

Trying to imagine how someone could add fictional facts to something as serious as the Hogsmeade attack, Harry looked at Hermione expectantly, waiting for her to expound upon her statement.

"Well, Harry, now promise me you aren't going to react like you did last year, but they tied your name into the attacks."

"What, did they ridicule me for not being able to save all the students or something?" Harry asked, feeling his temper rising and trying to control it.

"No," Hermione said, again drawing the word out like she was trying to give herself time to think of how exactly to reply. "They insinuated that the only reason the attack occurred was because You-Kn, I mean, Voldemort, was after you."

"What? How… but I wasn't even….they really said that…how could anyone think that?" stammered Harry.

"I'm not telling him all the bad news," Hermione said to Ron and Ginny. "I don't want to be known as the bearer of bad news."

"What else is there?" Harry practically shouted.

"You're his girlfriend, you tell him," Ron urged, pushing Ginny a step closer to Harry.

Glaring at her older brother, Ginny turned back to an impatient Harry. "Harry, the Daily Prophet's story is being believed, even here. The students are trying to make sense of what happened, why their class mates are dead. It doesn't make sense to them. But they know you have a history with Voldemort, they know he tried to kill you once before, and that you've been a thorn in his side ever since. It makes sense to them that he would come here to try and kill you."

Madam Pomfrey finally released Harry from her direct care on Tuesday, after most of the bruising on his feet and legs had faded. He, however, was still to report to her daily for medicinal potions, and was to take "extreme care" when practicing Quidditch. Harry was sure she would have an aneurism if she knew he was planning a trip into the Forbidden Forest not even a week after getting out of her care.

The school that Harry returned to, though, was not the same school he had left. Now that the initial shock over the loss of the five students in Hogsmeade had passed, the students were left with answerless questions, grief, and anger. Someone, Harry suspected a Slytherin, had started a movement to hand Harry over to Voldemort. Apparently driven by the Daily Prophet's article, these students firmly believed that once Voldemort had Harry, the reign and quest for terror would stop. Other students, apparently as disgusted as Harry by this, responded by claiming that even if Voldemort killed Harry, it wouldn't stop him from continuing to try and take over power. They countered that anyone who stood up to Voldemort would be targeted, not just Harry. Still others felt that the Slytherins were to blame for the attacks. It had not gone unnoticed by the other students that Slytherin house had been the only one untouched by the attack. The factions were literally splitting the school into cliques. Harry tried to smooth things over by talking to his Defense classes, but the Slytherins and those who wanted to hand Harry over to the Dark Lord were set in their opinions. Even the other students, when Harry tried to explain why the whole of Slytherin house couldn't be chucked out, seemed too stubborn to change their views. Hermione, Ginny, and Ron had told Harry that scuffles were becoming more frequent in the hallways. Harry's mind couldn't help but be drawn to the riddle Gryffindor had left for them. Was this the start of the civil war that had been foreseen, or was it merely coincidence?

Author's note: The name Himatos Hex, if anyone is interested, was formed by coupling the Latin term 'hema', meaning blood, and the ancient Greek word 'aima' (alpha, iota, mu, alpha) meaning blood, and sticking a common Greek ending on the end.


	18. Chapter 18

Author's note: Two messages. First, I've resubmitted Chapter 17 because in my haste to write it I forgot to think about the extreme future of my story. The outcome of the Quidditch match had to be changed, so Hufflepuff has now won instead of Ravenclaw as I originally wrote. You won't know why this was important until much later in the story. Secondly, I'm including a shameless plug for my new one-shot, short story, New Beginnings. After you read this chapter go back to my author's page and check that one out to. :) Enjoy!

Chapter 18

Harry, even after completing all the homework from the week of classes he had missed, still felt like he was very far behind when he entered his Charms class on the Wednesday after being released from the hospital wing.

Tiny Professor Flitwick was standing on his pile of books in the center of the room, trying to get the class' attention. "If everyone could just quiet down please," he squeaked loudly. "I have some news to announce." The class finally settled down. "The headmaster has asked all the professors to deliver a message to their first period classes. Christmas break is fast approaching, and usually students who want to stay at Hogwarts over the break are asked to sign up with their Head of House. However, because of the events of the past few weeks, all students are required to return home during the break, while Hogwarts undergoes Ministry directed protection spells."

In past years, Harry would have been upset by this announcement that would have forced him to return to the Dursely's for the holidays, but he could care less this year since he had already planned to return to Grimmauld Place. Ron and Ginny would also be returning to Grimmauld place as well, while Hermione would spend the holidays with her family.

That Friday was the night they planned to enter the Forbidden Forest to find the next clue. In order to not be caught, they had decided to wait until everyone else went to bed, then sneak out. Ron, finally admitting he didn't want to be left out, had decided to come along as well, though from the way he complained, he made it sound as if they were dragging him along.

As the Common Room slowly emptied, Hermione asked Harry, "are you sure you are up to this tonight?"

"For the tenth time, Hermione, I'm feeling fine," Harry responded, tired of her playing nurse.

"And everyone knows what we are doing once we get in the forest?" Hermione continued.

"Yeah," Ron replied sarcastically, "we are following the path by moonlights' cool glow, through trees and past rushing waters' flow, till thy finds a stone of shining hue. The words upon it will be thy next clue."

The last student didn't leave the Common Room till after midnight, much the Harry's displeasure; he was tired from the week and didn't think it wise to be falling asleep when walking through the forest.

"Come here," Hermione beckoned to them before they left the Common Room. "Stand in a circle," she directed, pulling out her wand. "Silencio," she said, pointing the wand at their feet. "Now no one can hear our footfalls in the castle or in the forest."

"Bloody brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, jumping up and down a few times to test out the spell.

"Now let's go," Harry commanded, pulling the Marauder's Map out of his cloak pocket. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered to the map, and the map of Hogwarts appeared on the parchment.

"Don't make a sound unless you absolutely have to warn us about something," Harry told the others. "Right now all the teachers are in their offices, and Filch seems to be arguing with Peeves in a fourth floor classroom. Mrs. Norris is with him."

The four of them crept through the corridors, with Harry in the lead, constantly checking the Marauder's Map. They succeeded in getting to the front doors without being caught, and slipped out unnoticed. Looking out across the lawns, Harry didn't see any lights on in Hagrid's cabin. There was no one around to catch them now that they were outside the castle.

The night was cloudless, with a nearly full moon lighting the grounds so well that they didn't have to use their wands. It was also freezing out, the type of cold that goes right through any garments, so even though their cloaks were wrapped tight around them they were shivering. Mist rose from their mouths with every step they took, and the frosted grass, though it didn't crunch as they walked, showed the indents from their feet with each step.

They stopped briefly at the start of the forest, staring into the impenetrable dark inside.

"We are sure we want to do this?" Ron whimpered.

"We have to," Harry replied, plunging ahead into the trees.

The others followed loyally behind, walking in single file and lighting their wand tips to see where they were going in the dark trees.

Harry wasn't sure how far they would have to go before they reached the next clue, nor was he even sure exactly what they were looking for, other than a glowing stone after having passed by trees and water. He knew, in all the times he had been in the Forbidden Forest, that he had never seen rushing water as described by Gryffindor's riddle.

They were still walking after half an hour, having seen no water, no glowing stone, nor any of the creatures that lived in the forest. The latter they were very happy about, but they were becoming exceedingly cold and tired. Harry knew they had walked farther on the path than he had in his 2nd year when he and Ron had followed the spiders to Aragog's lair, deeper than he had gone in his first year in search of an injured unicorn, and deeper than last years expedition to visit Gwap.

Harry suddenly stopped, causing Ginny, who was directly behind him, to nearly walk into him in the dim light.

"What's wrong?" she whispered.

Harry just nodded toward the path in front of him, or rather, the lack of one. They had reached a place where the path was bisected by a deep gully. What looked like the remains of a very old bridge was the only method of crossing the gully, and Harry really didn't think the bridge would hold any of them.

"This must be the rushing water," Hermione mused from behind him.

"I don't see any water," Ron replied.

"No, but think about it Ronald, it's been a hundreds of years since Gryffindor wrote that clue. The water that would have carved this gully would have been rushing then."

The thought that things would have changed since the time of the founders hadn't occurred to Harry until that moment. "What if the stone has eroded away?" he asked.

"Don't tell me we came all this way for nothing," Ron moaned.

"There is only one way to know," Ginny replied. "We have to get to the other side." With that, she walked past Harry and clamored down the steep side of the gully. Harry hurried after her, trailed by Ron and Hermione.

There was no trace of water at the bottom of the ditch, but it was deep enough that even Ron couldn't see over the bank while standing at the bottom. They waded through knee deep accumulations of dead leaves before reaching the other bank, which was just as steep as the other. Pulling themselves out, they found themselves now cold and dirty. Following the path once more, they trudged on.

They started looking around for a 'rock of shining hue', but they weren't sure what exactly to look for. They scanned the ground with the narrow beams of light from their wands, hoping to come across Ravenclaw's clue. Harry, now back in the lead, was doing just that when he walked into something quite hard.

Lifting his wand tip away from the ground and up in front of him, Harry saw a large standing stone in front of him, marking a place where the path diverged into two paths. In the places where the wand light had passed across the stone it glowed with a light yellow hue.

"I found it," Harry exclaimed happily.

The others joined him, all pointing their wand tips at the stone so they could get a good view of it. The stone rose to almost equal Harry's height, with a rounded and sculpted top. On the face, at the top was carved a large image of a Raven that was gripping a long scroll in its talons. Inside the scroll were carved many curving and looping letters, some of which Harry recognized and others that looked completely foreign.

"Is it some sort of code?" Ginny asked. "Do we have to pick out the letters we know to form them into words or something?"

"We don't have time to just stand here and try to decipher it," Hermione responded, pulling her cloak tighter as she shivered. "Harry, let me see the Map."

Harry was rather tentative to just hand Hermione the Marauder's Map.

"Oh, I'm just going to make a copy of it," she exclaimed, pulling the map rather roughly out of Harry's hands. Pointing her wand at the now blank piece of parchment, she said clearly, "Replicim."

She pulled away the top map to reveal another identical piece of parchment under it. Handing Harry back the original map, she started to spread the duplicated one out.

"I'll need charcoal," she mumbled to herself, searching the ground. Picking up a small stone, she pointed her wand at it as well. Screwing up her face in deep concentration she tapped the rock lightly three times and before their eyes the rock transformed into a piece of charcoal.

"Blimey, where'd you learn to do that?" Ron asked.

"I've read ahead in Transfiguration," Hermione replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Putting the piece of parchment against the carving on the stele she started to rub the charcoal over the inscription, making a perfect and portable copy of the clue.

They inspected the rest of the stone, front and back, just to make sure they didn't miss an extra inscription. No one really wanted to come back.

"Ok," Harry said once he was satisfied they had found the entire clue. "Let's get back to the castle."

They did an about face and stated back down the path. They had not yet reached the gully when Harry again stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" he heard three voices from behind him whisper, but he just raised a finger to his mouth to signal for silence.

He peered out into the dark trees on either side of them. Had it only been his imagination? For a few seconds he could have sworn he had heard the sound of hooves.

Without uttering an explanation, Harry started walking again. They climbed across the gully again, and continued on toward the end of the forest. Several more times Harry swore he either saw a dark shape move in the trees along the path, or heard more hooves. He was not excited to meet the Centaurs again, but assuming he was not hallucinating, he couldn't understand why they wouldn't attack them outright.

Through the trees, the group could see the moonlight shining in from outside the forest. Harry quickened his pace to get out of the forest all the sooner. In the light through the thinning trees Harry now clearly made out the form of a single centaur trotting almost parallel to them.

Harry stopped again, only a few meters from the entrance to the forest.

"Go on ahead," he told the others.

"Why?" Ginny demanded.

Harry couldn't help but smile. "You can't take orders, can you?" he joked.

"Not unless they make sense," she replied.

"Fine," Harry relented. "There has been a centaur following us," he announced loudly enough for the centaur to hear as well.

With a rustle of leaves the centaur stepped onto the path. Harry recognized him as Magorian, and was relived to see that the bow he carried was hanging non-threateningly at his side.

"Why have you been following us, Magorian?" Harry asked, hoping he didn't sound condescending or insulting. He didn't want to enrage the creature.

"I've been watching that no harm befell you on your quest."

"You tried to kill us at the end of last term!" Harry exclaimed without thinking.

"And our feelings towards humans have not changed," the centaur replied fiercely. "But our ancestors made an oath with the founders, that when those who came to look for the second clue entered the forest, we would protect them. I am simply fulfilling an obligation."

"But how did you know we were in search of Ravenclaw's clue?" Hermione asked.

"Much is written in the stars," Magorian replied simply, "now it is time for you to leave the forest. After this night, things return back to the way they were at the end of last spring."

The four friends left the Forbidden Forest behind them, making a bee line for the warmth of the castle. Using the Map, they succeeded in getting back to the Common Room without anyone noticing them. It was well after 2 in the morning by this point, and they were all chilled to the bone from the late November weather. Resting briefly in front of the dying Common Room fire in hopes of thawing out, they looked at the rubbing Hermione had made of the clue.

"Sure is funny looking," Ron commented, stifling a yawn and squinting at the writing.

"Hermione, I'm too tired to even think about this tonight. Let's work in it tomorrow," said Harry, finally feeling sufficiently warm and ready to go to bed.

"Don't forget we have Quidditch practice tomorrow morning," Ginny reminded, before she and Hermione climbed up towards the girls' dormitories.

Ron groaned. "Why don't we just skive off tomorrow?"

"Because Katie would kill us," Harry replied. "Especially since I've missed enough practices being in the hospital wing."

But when seven o'clock rolled around the next morning, Harry could care less how many practices he had missed. He and Ron promptly went back to sleep, though the peace would not last long. An hour later Katie Bell entered their dormitory, boiling mad and threatening to hex off body parts they would sorely miss if they didn't get out of bed that instant. She gave them just enough time to sloppily dress themselves and grab their equipment before marching them down to the field where the rest of the team was waiting.

After several grueling hours of practice, Ron and Harry were starving and freezing when they plopped down next to Hermione on one of the Common Room sofas.

"Did you save us any breakfast?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Why would I save you any breakfast?" Hermione returned, having no idea about what had occurred that morning.

"Cause we overslept, ticked Katie off royally, and missed breakfast," Harry replied as his stomach growled loudly at just the thought of food.

Hermione gave them a look as if to say "well, that's your fault then, isn't it?"

"Come on, Ron," Harry commanded, standing up. "Let's go raid the kitchens."

The two teenagers walked down the mostly empty corridors, still dressed in their Quidditch robes, talking about how they wished they were still in bed.

"Oh," Ron said, suddenly remembering something. "Can I borrow Hedwig, Harry? I want to send in my orders for Christmas presents and Pig won't be able to carry it all back."

"Sure," Harry shrugged, "but why are you ordering your presents."

"Well, with Hogsmeade pretty much razed…"

"Oh yeah, I forgot most of the town was destroyed," Harry said stupidly. "Guess I need to order my presents then too. You, Hermione, and Ginny are easy to shop for, but what should I get your Mum?"

"My Mum?"

"Yeah, she's always been like a mother to me. I feel I should get her something. Your dad is easy, I can just buy him something from a Muggle electronics store and he will be thrilled."

"You could always get her a house elf," Ron joked. "Then we wouldn't have to clean the house any more, and she could stop complaining about not having enough help around the place."

Harry was silently contemplative for a few minutes.

"You know I was joking," Ron broke in. "You can't seriously be considering getting Mum as house elf."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, you can't just go out and buy house elves. They tend to come with estates and what not."

"I could ask Dobby," Harry replied.

"Dobby? He's almost as crazy as Kreacher," Ron exclaimed.

Harry gave Ron a furious look. "Dobby is nothing like Kreacher."

"I didn't mean it that way," Ron apologized, looking at his feet.

They had reached the portrait of the bowl of fruit that concealed the entrance to Hogwarts' kitchen. Reaching up, Harry tickled the pear until a door knob magically appeared. Pulling the painting open, they stepped into the kitchens.

The house elves were already preparing for lunch, and the succulent smells of cooking food made Harry and Ron's mouths start to water. Despite the busyness with cooking, there were still enough free house elves to run up to Harry and Ron, carrying dishes of food to offer them. Ron dug in at once, asking, "You wouldn't happen to have any sausages left from breakfast, would you?"

Almost immediately another house elf appeared carrying a platter of cold sausages.

Harry, though also inundated with helpful house elves offering him food, only took an apple at first, scanning the kitchen for any sign of Dobby.

However, it was Dobby who spotted him first, and Harry heard him calling through the crowd of house elves around him, "Harry Potter, sir!"

"Hello Dobby," Harry said cheerfully, as the strangely dressed house elf bowed in front of him

"Can Dobby help Harry Potter?"

"Actually, you might be able to," Harry responded, quite confident that the elf would jump at the offer. "I was bequeathed a rather large manor, and I was looking for a house elf to help me keep it up. I would of course pay you," Harry added, seeing Dobby's face suddenly droop.

The house elf was looking distinctly uncomfortable, and he had cast his large eyes onto the floor. "Dobby is not sure how to tell Harry Potter this, but he hopes he won't be angry. But Dobby likes it very much at Hogwarts. Dobby likes the work in the castle much better than work at manors. Please do not be upset with Dobby, Harry Potter sir."

Harry was slightly shocked that the elf had said no, but then he was also happy that Dobby wasn't letting anyone make him do anything he didn't want to, even if that was Harry.

"Do you know any other house elves that might be interested in the position?" Harry asked.

Dobby shook his head excitedly, "Yes, Harry Potter sir, Dobby thinks he knows."

He led the way through the kitchen to where a group of house elves were washing dishes.

"Dobby thinks Winky might accept Harry Potter's proposal," Dobby squealed happily.

Upon hearing her name, Winky turned to look at them. She looked better than Harry had ever seen her at Hogwarts. He clothes, although wet from the dishes, were now clean, and she appeared to be quite sober.

"Winky has been doing much better this year, sir" Dobby squeaked, "but Winky is still not happy here."

"Do you remember me?" Harry asked Winky kindly.

Winky nodded. "I is remembering you, sir. You is trying to help me at the Quidditch Cup."

"Harry Potter wants to help Winky," Dobby told her, wiggling his ears.

Winky looked up at Harry, questioning him with her eyes.

"I was wondering if you wanted a position at a large manor, where you could take care of a family again?" Harry asked, rewording the question after Dobby's rejection.

Winky seemed to be thinking as she looked him over.

"Dumbledore is my master now," she said slowly. "I is not able to say yes without his permission."

"If you had his permission," Harry goaded, "would you say yes."

"Only if you promises not to pay Winky, sir," she said sternly.

Harry had to fight not to laugh. "I promise, but no matter what I will treat you nicely, not like a servant or a slave."

"Then if Dumbledore says Winky can go, I is wanting to go."

When Harry and Ron returned to the Common Room, Hermione and Ginny were pouring over the rubbing of the next clue.

"Any luck deciphering it yet?" Harry asked.

"Well, sort of," Ginny replied with a wry smiled. "The good news is it doesn't need to be deciphered."

"So you figured it out?" Ron inquired.

"No," Hermione responded, "but we realized it needs to be translated, not deciphered."

"Translated?" Ron and Harry asked in unison.

Hermione nodded, smiling in her usual way when she knew something the boys did not. "Ravenclaw's clue is written in Ancient Greek."

"How do you know that?" Harry wondered, looking at the writing he had never seen before.

"Well," Hermione explained, "I learned a little bit about ancient languages in Ancient Runes. I figured out that this is Koine A Greek because of the way it was written and the use of accent marks. See how the words aren't separated, it's just one continuous line of text."

"Please tell me you can read Greek?" Harry begged,

Hermione shook her head. "All we did was look at the external structure of it in Ancient Runes."

"Why Greek?" moped Ron, "why couldn't it have been Latin? Even I know some Latin."

"That's exactly why," Hermione responded. "Lots of wizards know Latin, but not too many know Greek. This is Ravenclaw's clue, and she valued intelligence and knowledge, so she left a clue that requires both to solve it. It's just like how Gryffindor valued bravery so he sent us into the forest."

"So what are we going to do?" Ginny wondered. "We have to translate it, or we will never find the next clue."

"I'll head to the library," answered Hermione. "I'll see what books they have to help me figure out where to begin with this. Anyone want to come with me?"

Harry, Ron, and Ginny all looked at anything but Hermione.

"Actually, I was going to take a nap," Ron confessed.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, I'll see you all for dinner."

When Hermione returned from her trek to the library she found Ron snoring, spread out on one of the sofas in front of the fire. Harry and Ginny were also asleep, cuddled together on one of the large, squishy armchairs.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: I'm looking for a Beta reader for this story so I can start posting on some other sites as well that review stories before posting them. If there are any volunteers tell me in a review and leave me an e-mail or IM name, or you can e-mail me using the link on my author's page. You don't have to be an English Prof or anything, but please at least have some basic knowledge of grammar and be able to spot Canon problems and mis-spellings. Perks to the job: You get to read new chapters before everyone else and you'll get my undying gratitude.

Chapter 19

Harry was just standing up to leave Dumbledore's office when his pants pocket started calling his name, and in a very girly voice.

Professor Dumbledore merely raised his eye brows at Harry, but after so many years, knew not to inquire into why Harry's pants were so affectionately calling his name. Harry, on the other hand, looked at the floor, blushing fiercely. He had completely forgotten about the magical mirror in his pocket. He didn't dare take it out; he wasn't sure if the mirrors were allowed at Hogwarts, especially since they had one belonged to Sirius and his father.

One he was safely riding the moving staircase back down, Harry withdrew the mirror from his pocket.

"What took you so long?" asked a slightly irritated Ginny.

"I was in Dumbledore's office," Harry replied, smiling at his girlfriend through the mirror. "He had a rather strange expression when he heard my pants start saying my name."

"Sorry," mumbled Ginny, "but Hermione and I were so excited, I completely forgot your meeting with Dumbledore."

"Did you translate Ravenclaw's clue?"

"Not quite, just meet us outside the library."

Harry stuffed the mirror back into his pocket. He had found over the last few weeks that other students gave him strange looks when they saw him walking down the hall, apparently talking to his hands, so he and Ginny tried to keep their conversations over the mirrors short.

When Harry arrived at the entrance to the library, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna were all waiting for him, leaning against the wall, their bags on the floor at their feet.

"So what did you find out?" he asked immediately.

Hermione smiled. "Well, Ginny and I were working on the clue when Luna sat down across from us. When she asked us why we were studying ancient Greek, I asked her how she knew it was Greek. Apparently Luna's mother was employed as a translator for the Ministry, where her job was to translate spells from ancient manuscripts into modern English."

Harry didn't understand what Hermione was getting at. He knew Luna's mother was dead, so how would her translating abilities be of any help to them?

Ginny noticed Harry's blank sort of stare, and filled in the holes for him. "Luna's mother was teaching Luna these languages, plus she has books and books at home on ancient Greek. She's going to try and translate it for us over Christmas break."

Harry moved his eyes over to Luna Lovegood, who was seemingly ignoring them with her face was buried in the newest edition of the Quibbler.

"So you really think you can translate it for us?" Harry asked her.

She didn't seem to hear him at first, but when he started to repeat his question she finally looked up from the magazine and cut him off. Her eyes were just as dreamy as usual, and although she was looking at Harry, he had the impression that she was seeing something else. With a small smile she said, "It's been a while since I even looked at Mum's books, but I used to be rather proficient in Greek. Since she died I've gotten out of the habit of studying ancient languages, but I know we have a huge lexicon at home. I'm going to work on it over Christmas break, in between helping Dad look for the Four-clawed Crested Jabberwocky."

Hermione looked very much like she was trying to ignore this last piece of information. The four of them began to walk back to their Common Rooms, and when Luna split off to go toward Ravenclaw, Hermione finally stopped biting her lip.

"Four-clawed Crested Jabberwocky, where do they get these things!"

Ginny and Harry laughed.

"We are the ones who are letting her translate the clue," chuckled Harry. "Are we sure she won't give us something strange back like 'follow the path of a Crumple Horned Snorckback until you reach the nest of a Four-clawed Crested Jabberwocky…"

Ginny giggled again, but Hermione stayed serious. "As much lore and legend Luna believes in I still think she will translate it correctly for us. She is, after all, a prefect, and in Ravenclaw. It seems fitting that she helps with Ravenclaw's clue."

A few days before the whole school was scheduled to leave for Christmas break, Harry and Ron found themselves walking back to the common room, in very good spirits about the approaching holiday. They had just been to Dumbledore's office, where Dumbledore had performed that spell that would bind Winky to Harry's service. Ron had come along as a required witness to the spell, but they had been there rather longer than they had planned. Harry was shocked when he was asked, as part of the spell, to think up a punishment for Winky if she were to ever disobey him or any of the Weasleys. Harry, remembering how Dobby had once been forced to iron his fingers, tried to get around the rule, but the spell wouldn't be complete without it. So finally, after almost half and hour of deliberating Harry decided, that if he had to give Winky a Magically binding punishment, then it would be the most lenient thing he could come up with. He had decided that if Winky were to ever break a rule, which weren't very strict to begin with, that her punishment would be to immediately tell Harry, one of the Weasleys, or the first available Order member what she had done.

"Remember Ron, we aren't telling Hermione anything," Harry reminded outside the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"I know, you've been with Professor Dumbledore going over Order stuff and I've been studying in the library."

They gave the password and the portrait swung open, admitting them into the warm common room. Hermione was seated at one of the tables, surrounded by books as usual, while Ginny was lounging on one of the sofas next to the fire.

"Where have you two been?" Hermione immediately inquired. "You were supposed to be back over half an hour ago so we could work on Transfiguration essays. I've already finished mine, and no, you can not look at it."

Ron looked slightly crestfallen to hear that he wouldn't be receiving help with his homework, but as practiced replied, "I was studying in the library, Hermione. I lost track of the time." He didn't sound at all convincing.

"And I suppose you two just happened to meet up in the corridors?" Hermione replied. Ginny, who knew very well where both had been, was looking on, trying not to laugh.

"As a matter of fact we did," responded Harry, flashing what he hoped looked like a sincere smile. "My meeting with Dumbledore ran over, and as I was hurrying back here to start my essay I practically ran into Ron as he was leaving the library."

Hermione didn't reply, but pursed her lips in a very McGonagall like manner.

Ron gave Harry a hopeful shrug and joined Hermione at her table, pleading with her to help him just a little with his essay.

Harry, putting off his homework just a bit longer, joined Ginny on the sofa. He leaned over to give her a quick kiss, noticing the laughter behind her eyes.

"Was she really that suspicious?" he whispered.

"She suspects you two were up to something, but she's thinking more along the lines of breaking school rules."

"I'd tell her, you know, except well, it's Hermione. She doesn't understand that Winky isn't happy here, that she prefers taking care of a single house and family, not an entire castle filled with students."

"You're going to have to tell her eventually," Ginny said softly. "She will be sure to notice Winky the next time she's at HQ."

"I know," Harry sighed, resting his head on Ginny's shoulder.

"Don't you have homework to be doing?" Ginny pried, shaking his head off her shoulder so she could continue writing her Potions essay.

"It should be illegal for Professors to be giving us assignments right up until break," Harry complained. "I was nice; I stopped giving out written assignments last week." While he said this his right arm was creeping around behind Ginny, grabbing her side and pulling her close to him. "Besides, I just want to spend a little time with my girlfriend," he added, sticking out his lower lip and trying his best to look pathetic.

Ginny giggled, but was in now way taken in by his puppy dog face. She gave him a teasing kiss on his pouting lips, before disentangling herself from his grasp. "I'm going to retire to my room, that way I can get some of my work done and you won't be so distracted any more," she laughed, gathering her books and heading for the stairs.

Ginny, however, had not yet reached the first step, nor had Harry made a move to begin his homework when a loud shout disturbed the peaceful buzz of conversation in the common room.

"YOU AND HARRY JUST DID WHAT?" Hermione shrieked, causing Ron to cower in his seat.

Harry slapped his hand to his forehead and mumbled, "Ron, you idiot."

When he looked up Hermione was now standing in front of him, angrier than he had ever seen her.

"Harry James Potter, how could you do such a thing? How could you condone such an action? It's slavery, SLAVERY!"

Before Harry could even think fast enough to defend himself, Hermione had rounded on Ginny.

"Did you know about this?" she demanded, standing with her hands on her hips and a very indignant look upon her face.

Ginny just nodded meekly, looking at her feet.

Hermione didn't speak again; she just let out something like a gargled yell before turning and summoning her books and papers from the table where Ron was still sitting. Once the books were in her arms she pounded up the stairs, followed by the loud slamming of a door.

The Common Room was suddenly plunged into eerie silence with the end of Hermione's shouting, but soon people started up their conversations again and the room returned to its usual cacophony of noise.

Ginny, due to the present circumstances, did not go up to her dormitory as she planned, but joined Harry in interrogating Ron.

"Why on Earth did you tell her?" Harry mumbled into his hands as he fought the urge to bang his head off the table.

"I didn't mean too," Ron replied, his voice still shaking. "She suckered it out of me, I swear."

"Ron, all you had to do was tell her that you were at the library!" Ginny replied, looking daggers at her brother.

"I did, but she kept asking to see what I'd worked on, saying she'd proof it for me."

"Ron, how could you tell her?" Harry was still saying, not really listening to his replies.

"I couldn't help it, mate, you have to trust me," Ron replied, looking scared that Harry and Ginny were going to make a scene as well and then storm out of the room. "It was like talking to Fleur, like a Veela, I lost all control over what I was saying!"

"What love does to simple minded fools," Ginny mused under her breath.

"I said I was sorry," Ron muttered, looking dejectedly at the blank piece of parchment in front of him that was supposed to be his Transfiguration essay.

"But what are we going to do about Hermione?" Harry asked miserably. Homework was now the farthest thing from his mind. He wanted desperately to make amends with Hermione.

"Let her go for a few days," Ginny responded knowingly. "Let her cool down. We'll try to talk to her on the train, that way she has no where to storm off to."

"And no witnesses when she hexes us," moaned Ron, who was taking the argument worse than the other two. "She's so going to dump me!"

"She won't dump you," Ginny soothed. "She won't be that rash."  
"What if she never forgives me?" Ron continued to lament, ignoring Ginny. "She's insane when it comes to this SPEW stuff."

Harry eventually got Ron to forget about the argument long enough to write a half-decent Transfiguration essay.

"Things are sure to be better tomorrow," Harry assured as they went up to bed a few hours later.

However, things were no better the next day. Hermione didn't join them for breakfast, and she didn't say a word to either of them throughout all of Double Transfiguration. She ate lunch at the other end of the table, with Parvati and Lavender, and didn't even give Harry, Ron, or Ginny a second glance. It continued for the rest of the week.

On the morning they were to leave, Hermione managed to avoid them once again, by packing early and waiting by the front doors so she could snag the very first carriage that would take them down to the train platform. However, Harry, Ron, and Ginny had expected this and were not very far behind, ensuring that they would be able to corner Hermione alone in one of the compartments.

Winky was also traveling with them, as there was really no other way to get her to Grimmauld Place. Harry spent the entire carriage ride to the train trying to get Winky to stop referring to him as 'Master.'

"Call me Harry, please," he practically begged. If Hermione heard Winky call him master there would be no appeasing her.

The carriage ride was also the first glimpse they got of Hogsmeade since the Death Eater attack. The town was being rebuilt, rather quickly due to magic, but the new buildings would never fully erase the memory of what had happened there.

Once on the train, Harry, Ron, and Ginny dragged their stuff along the corridor until they found Hermione, sitting alone, deeply absorbed in a book. When they entered the compartment Hermione barely even blinked, and after stowing their stuff, Harry closed and magically locked the door, ensuring their privacy and keeping Hermione from leaving easily. Still Hermione went on ignoring them, absentmindedly flipping through the pages of her book.

"Hermione, we need to talk," Harry began, but Hermione didn't acknowledge that she heard him.

"This is ridiculous," Ginny exclaimed, pulling out her wand. "Accio book!"

Hermione's book flew out of her hands and over to Ginny, who caught it and threw it onto the seat behind her. Harry, Ron, and Ginny formed a small semi-circle around Hermione, forcing her to look at them.

"We know you are upset with us," Harry started again, "and I apologize for not telling you what we were doing sooner. We didn't want to lie to you, but we were, well, afraid that you were going to act just the way you did."

"And for good reason!" Hermione finally spat. "How could you do such a thing Harry? I'd never have expected something like this from you; you're just as bad as Lucius Malfoy now."

"I am nothing like any of the Malfoys!" Harry yelled.

He head Hermione muttered something that sounded like, "slavery," under her breath.

"Fine, be that way," Harry shouted back. He started to drag his trunk back out of the rack when he heard a small voice from behind him.

Winky had pulled herself up onto the seat next to Hermione. Standing so that she was closer to eye level she looked Hermione squarely in the face and stated, "I is not wanting to work at Hogwarts. I is wanting to go with Master Harry."

Harry winced at the name.

"I used to being an honorable house-elf, and now I is going to be helping a family again. I is going to be an honorable, good, house-elf again."

Hermione looked down at Winky. "You were always an honorable, good, house-elf, Winky. What Mr. Crouch did to you was barbaric. You don't have to be a slave and a servant for your whole life."

But Winky didn't shrink back from Hermione. "I is not meaning disrespect, Master Harry's friend," again Harry winced, "but I likes serving people. Tis what house-elves are supposed to do. I is finally happy again. House-elves is not wanting freedom. Tis why we stopped cleaning Gryffindor Tower last year, we is not wanting to find clothes and be free."

Hermione looked shocked. "You didn't clean? But then, where did all the clothes go?"

"Dobby took them," Harry confessed. "He did all the cleaning when the other house-elves stopped."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione demanded.

"Would you have believed me? Would you have stopped knitting your clothes?"

Hermione looked slightly ashamed, "No," she admitted quietly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make that horrible scene in the common room."

"It's ok," Harry replied. "We shouldn't have lied to you."

Things were back to normal after that, and Ron took his seat next to Hermione while Harry and Ginny sat on the opposite seat. Harry stacked a bunch of his text books on top of one another so Winky could sit a top them and see out of the window.

They were almost home when Ginny nudged Harry, giggling a little and pointing to Hermione and Ron. They had fallen asleep in the dull light of the low setting sun, with Hermione's head on Ron's shoulder, and their hands clasped lightly together.

Ginny, in turn, leaned her head onto Harry's shoulder and he put an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. He looked down into her deep brown eyes, smiling at her before leaning down to kiss her tenderly, letting his lips linger on hers for just a few seconds.

"Did I ever tell you how glad I was that you were ok after the Hogsmeade attack?" Ginny asked quietly, slipping her hand into his.

Harry laughed softly. "I think you conveyed that the day I woke up in the hospital."

"I was very worried," Ginny replied. "I don't want anything to ever happen to you. I don't know what I'd do if something did."

"Ginny," Harry said slowly. "There are no guarantees in life…"

"Don't say that," Ginny breathed, cutting him off with a kiss. "Nothing is going to happen to you. It can't."

"Why can't it?"

"Because I said so," she giggled, but then turning serious "and because I could quite possibly be in love with you, Harry Potter."


	20. Chapter 20

A/N Sorry this chapter took so long. I had two killer tests this past week, and a huge case of writer's block on this chapter. I knew what I wanted to write, I just couldn't get it out the way I wanted it. I got a ton of reviews for last chapter, so please keep it up. I love getting those alerts in my e-mail in box!

Chapter 20

It was late on Christmas morning, and Harry could be found sitting contemplatively amid his presents, still dressed in his pajamas. He was working his way through the chocolate frogs, jelly slugs, and countless other varieties of candy that Ron had given him, while idly flipping through the spell book Hermione had sent him. Had he been paying attention he would have heard Ginny cheering triumphantly as her knight clobbered Ron's bishop, or Mrs. Weasley humming carols as she moved around the room, picking up the strewn pieces of wrapping paper; but Harry was deep in his own thoughts.

His arrival at Grimmauld Place from King's Cross had been uneventful, even though he was again surrounded by an Order guard consisting of Tonks, Moody, Remus, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley had been slightly shocked at first, when Harry had told her that he had brought Winky to help her out around the house; but she seemed to warm up to the house-elf very quickly, especially after learning about Winky's less than happy past. In turn, Winky seemed quite keen on Mrs. Weasley also. The two could often be found cooking together, as well as cleaning up. Mrs. Weasley was not the type of woman who could just order around any other creature, besides that, she didn't really know what to do with herself if she wasn't cooking and cleaning. Ginny, however, may have been even more fond of Winky, since the house-elf had eliminated Mrs. Weasley's need to call her only daughter into the kitchen to help with meals. After growing up with six older brothers, Ginny wasn't far off from a tomboy, and rather despised cooking and cleaning.

Winky, for her part, seemed to be adjusting to Grimmauld Place well. Dumbledore had already told her all about the Order, and Winky knew she would have to keep secrets. When they had arrived, Moody had a note from Dumbledore for Winky to memorize so that she could enter the house with everyone else. Once the door had opened, she had stopped dead at the threshold. She sort of sniffed the air, then wrinkled her nose up in a disgusted sort of way.

"I know it's not very clean," Harry apologized, assuming that was what Winky was making a face at.

But tugging at the hem of Harry's cloak, Winky asked instead, "Master Harry, did you have another house-elf?"

Harry was quite shocked by the question. "How did you know we used to have a house-elf?"

"Winky can smell him, sir." She wrinkled her nose again. "He was not a good house-elf; he was not even keeping himself clean."

"Not a good house-elf? That's an understatement," Ron cackled from behind them. "Kreacher was a bloody traitor!"

Winky looked up at Harry questioningly

"Kreacher betrayed his Master," Harry explained to her softly. "It led to his Master's death."

Winky shivered at the thought. "Winky is a good house-elf," she stated. "I is not betraying, I is keeping secrets and taking orders." She seemed to think for a moment, shuddering again, before asking. "Master Harry, what happened to this Kreacher? He was given clothes?"

Harry shook his head. He was afraid if he told Winky that Kreacher had been killed it would scare the poor elf.

Mad-Eye Moody, however, tactfully growled, "The wretch was killed, that's what happened to him."

Winky's eyes had widened in horror. The innocent elf had never thought of death as a punishment, being freed was the worst punishment she had ever thought of.

Winky proved to be an excellent addition to the family on only her second day at Grimmauld Place, when Harry and Ron were carrying Christmas decorations toward the kitchen. Ron tripped and dropped a box full of glass balls, smashing quite a few of them. The sharp sound of shattering glass woke Mrs. Black, who immediately began her usual screaming tirade.

As Ron and Harry struggled to close the curtains and shut the blasted portrait up, Winky appeared in the entrance way, looking at them oddly as they cursed back at the hated picture.

"Master Harry, if you is not liking the portrait, then why is you keeping it?"

"Because it's permanently stuck to the bloody wall," Harry grunted as he wrestled with the curtains. "And no one can figure out the bloody counter-spell!"

Winky smiled up at Harry and squeaked, "but Master Harry, sir, house-elves have magic that can remove anything from the wall. What use would we be if we couldn't un-stick things?"

Harry and Ron both dropped their sides of the curtain to stare at Winky in a slightly disbelieving manner.

"Don't tell Hermione," Ron finally yelled to Harry over the continuing screaming of Mrs. Black. "She doesn't need… we don't need her to know, that she was right about Kreacher knowing how to remove the charm!"

Winky approached the vocal painting, which appeared to be ignoring her while continuing its curses in Harry's direction. Winky ran her long fingers around the edge of the frame, muttering something under her breath that was indiscernible because of Mrs. Black's yelling. Finally, Winky snapped her fingers and with a hissing sound, like air being released under high pressure, the painting fell from the wall.

The echoing clank that ensued when the frame hit the floor was made all the louder in the sudden absence of Mrs. Black's screams. She seemed to have been shocked to silence to find herself suddenly off the wall. Harry and Ron immediately grabbed a side of the painting pulling it away from the wall completely, as Mrs. Black, coming out of her stupor, began her yelling once more. However, instead of just curses and insults, Harry could detect a bit of fear in the old crone's voice, as she discovered that with her painting not hanging on the wall she could not escape into another frame. She was caught in her painting, and at the will of Harry and Ron.

"What are we going to do with the lovely lady?" Ron asked Harry, sticking his head behind the portrait to look at Harry on the other side.

Peering back at Ron, Harry replied, "Let's burn her," in a very gleeful voice.

This started Mrs. Black screaming all the louder, but Harry ignored her as they dragged her toward the large, kitchen fire place.

All the noise had attracted Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, who were very surprised to see Mrs. Black's portrait off the wall.

"How'd you do it, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"It was Winky," Harry replied with a smile.

"Do you think she could get that family tree tapestry off the drawing room wall?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Harry almost dropped his side of the portrait when the idea stuck him, he hadn't even thought off the tapestry.

"We're going to have a memorial to Sirius," Harry cried happily.

Once they stowed Mrs. Black's portrait in the kitchen, Harry and Winky went to the second floor drawing room to take down the tapestry. Harry, knowing the information on the tapestry was valuable, first copied it onto a piece of parchment, then let Winky take it down in the same manner she had the portrait. Harry then dragged it into the kitchen to join Mrs. Black's portrait for the burning.

Next, Harry, Ron, and Winky marched through the house as Harry asserted his new dominance on the other unruly paintings. Most were content to just grumble and promise to not cause ruckus, but a few decided they would rather go down with the ship than stay on board with Harry at the helm. They joined the first painting and the tapestry.

While Harry and Ron had ransacked the house, using Winky's newfound abilities, Mrs. Weasley had flooed Remus so that he could witness Harry's memorial to Sirius. Ginny had owled Fred and George using Hedwig, and they Apparated at the news, eager to witness the demise of Mrs. Black.

Once everyone was gathered in the kitchen, now full of screaming portraits, Mrs. Weasley enlarged the fire place twice, so that everything could be thrown in at once. Harry threw the tapestry in first, then waited until it burst into flames, before beginning to toss the portraits on. Finally, he and Remus hoisted Mrs. Black's portrait toward the waiting flames. As he pushed the frame into the heat, Harry announced quite clearly to the still screaming portrait, "This is for Sirius!"

Mrs. Black's portrait continued to scream obscenities as the flames licked at the frame, and finally, as if briefly held off by magic, the canvas burst into flames. An eerier sort of silence followed, after almost an hour of Mrs. Black's screaming; all that was left was the crackling of the fire, and the occasional pop from a piece of wood.

"Sirius would have liked that," Ginny whispered to Harry, her face flickering in the firelight.

Two days after the portrait burning, Harry received a letter from Hagrid explaining the plan on getting Buckbeak out of captivity. Hagrid had already spoken to Charlie, who would be arriving at Grimmauld Place the next day for Christmas, and he would fly Buckbeak from Grimmauld Place to Hogwarts. They reckoned it would be the safest time, since the Ministry wasn't showing up to start overseeing the protection spells for another week, and with all the students gone, the likelihood that anyone would see a Hippogriff being flown onto the grounds was slim.

So the next evening when Charlie arrived, after receiving a bone crushing embrace from his mother and being adequately fed, they put the plan into action.

Harry and Ron coaxed Buckbeak out of Sirius' mother's old bedroom. He allowed them to fix a tether to him, and lead him down to the entrance way. Charlie was waiting for them there, having already used a borrowed Put-Outer to take care of the outside street lamps and any Muggle neighbor curiosity.

Buckbeak seemed to take to Charlie immediately, bowing almost instantly back to him. Harry and Ron were allowed to say a hurried good-bye to their charge, patting his glossy feathered neck and talking to him in soothing tones.

"We'll come to visit you when we're back at school," Ron promised the creature, with whom he had become rather attached over the summer.

Charlie led Buckbeak out the front door of Grimmauld Place and into the dark street. Buckbeak seemed to sniff at the outside air, then stretched his large wings, flapping them several times. Charlie mounted onto the back of the Hippogriff, using the tether like reins.

"I'll deliver Buckbeak to Hagrid, then walk to the village and Apparate back here," he told his worried mother.

"Do be careful, Charlie dear. Goodness knows we don't need another Christmas with someone in St. Mungo's."

Charlie laughed gruffly. "Compared to a Hungarian Horntail, Buckbeak here is a right old kitten, eh, Harry?"

Harry couldn't help but agree that he much preferred Buckbeak to a dragon.

Charlie tossed what looked like a small, silver Muggle lighter to Ron, instructing, "turn the street lamps back on once I've gotten out of view. Dumbledore said he's not likely to be needing his Put-Outer anytime soon, so he'll collect it during the next Order meeting."

Charlie squeezed his legs against Buckbeak's side, and the beast unfolded his wings once more, beating the air restlessly. With a running start, Buckbeak took flight, slowly winging his way higher and higher, until he and Charlie disappeared from view.

Harry, however, couldn't help but recall watching Sirius flying away from the West Tower battlements on Buckbeak's back. Once again he started to wonder what it had all been for, what the point had been; Sirius had only lived to die two years later.

Suddenly sight returned to Grimmauld Place, as Ron released the confined light from the Put-Outer. Harry hurriedly tried to inconspicuously wipe the tears away without anyone noticing.

"You ok, Harry?" Ginny asked from just behind him.

"Yeah," Harry lied, turning to re-enter the house.

Harry had to blink back tears as he thought about all that had happened in the last few weeks. He was missing Sirius more than ever during the holidays, and even though he should be happy, surrounded by the presents given to him by people who cared about him; it didn't erase the fact that Sirius was missing this year.

But that wasn't the only thing bothering Harry on Christmas morning. His attention was drawn away from the candy and Hermione's book, by Ginny's indignant shout as Ron took revenge for his battered bishop.

Harry hadn't stopped thinking about what Ginny had told him on the train; her confession of love. Even when he was thinking about Sirius, he couldn't totally forget Ginny's bold statement. He wasn't sure if he loved Ginny back; could a fifteen and sixteen year old really feel true love in the first place? He had just continued to hold her after she had told him, though she hadn't seemed offended by the silence. However, it wasn't that she loved him that worried him, but the fact that she was so adamant about nothing ever happening to him.

The prophecy was starting to weigh on Harry, and he was quite sure on day his luck was going to run out. How could he be expected to defeat Voldemort himself, to kill or be killed? If Dumbledore hadn't been able to kill Voldemort, then what chance did Harry have?

_The only reason I've survived till now has been sheer luck,_ he thought bitterly. _It was luck that some ancient form of magic was invoked when my mother died to save me, it was luck that Quirrel couldn't touch me in my first year, and even more luck that Fawkes was there to save me in the Chamber of Secrets. It was luck that Voldemort's and my wands have the same core, and that I managed to escape the graveyard, and luck that when he possessed me last year he didn't kill me. It was all dumb luck! I can't stay lucky forever._

And Harry saw a vision of Ginny, screaming over his dead body, beyond consolation, consumed forever by grief. And he saw her world going black, devoured by Voldemort's evil; he was dead, and no one else could defeat Voldemort; it was damned destiny.

Harry was going to die at the hands of Lord Voldemort; the thing that Ginny most feared was going to come to pass and Harry would have to face it when it came. The only thing he could do was try to help Ginny, make it so that when he was dead she didn't have to grieve for him. Harry didn't want her going through what he went through with Sirius. And in a moment of inspiration, Harry knew what he had to do.

Mrs. Weasley's excellent Christmas dinner held no taste for Harry, knowing what he was planning on doing that night. Even the trick cracker that Fred and George had given Ron, making him twitch randomly for the next five minutes, wasn't as funny as it normally would have been. After dinner, Harry played a half-hearted game of Chess with Ron in front of the drawing room fire, while Fred, George, Bill, and Charlie played Exploding Snap and Percy sat off by himself, reading. Ginny had already excused herself, having just gotten over a nasty cold, to go to bed early.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron finally asked, after Harry made his fifth bad move in a row, right into one of Ron's waiting pieces.

"I…I'm just not feeling all that great," Harry lied. "I think I might be getting what Ginny had, I'm going to go to bed."

As he rose to leave the room, George shouted after him, "you catch things like that from too much snogging, you know."

Harry climbed the stairs toward his bedroom, but it was not his intended destination. He instead stopped at the door before his, knocking softly.

He heard a muffled, "come in." Harry gulped and pushed open the door.

"Hey," Ginny greeted him with a smile. She was already in her dressing gown, and lying on her bed with a lit candle on her nightstand and a book in her lap.

Harry tried to respond back, but his throat had dried up and no sound escaped.

"Did you want to talk to me?" Ginny asked, while giving him an odd look.

Harry managed to nod before sitting down on the bottom of her bed and staring at his feet.

"Well," Ginny prodded, continuing her strange look.

"Yeah, um, you see…it's about, err, what you said on the train," Harry stumbled, his voice quavering slightly.

"Yes," Ginny replied, looking at him expectantly. Harry had to look away from her face and back to his feet, it was clear that she thought he was going to say, "I love you to."

Still looking at his toes, Harry continued, "it made me realize something." Harry took a deep breath, preparing to tell what he thought was the worst lie of his life. "I've realized that the way you feel about me, I could never feel towards you."

Harry had to bite his tongue to keep from yelling out his true feelings when he heard Ginny stumble on her own breath in surprise.

"What…" was all she managed to say before her voice gave out. Shaking, her hands found Harry's hands, and though he longed to hold them, instead shook them off.

"Harry," she whimpered, clearly crying now. "Look at me," she begged.

But Harry couldn't look at her, he knew if he did the whole charade would fall apart, he couldn't lie to her face. His silence seemed to be saying more than words to Ginny.

"But what about all those things you told me in Hogsmeade, when you asked me to the ball? That you had been thinking about me a lot, and that you were jealous at Sean Warden was hanging out with me."

"I've changed my mind," Harry grumbled at the floor, wishing Ginny would stop asking so many questions. "I thought I liked you, but I realized I was wrong, confused. I'm still hung up on Cho," he lied. "When you told me you loved me, I thought it was best to let you know how I really felt."

"So what have the last couple of months been?" Ginny demanded, her tears now turning to anger. "Some fling, an excuse to get a good snog every now and then?"

Harry didn't respond, unable to tell another lie to her, but Ginny, however, seemed to interpret the silence as a resounding yes.

"Get out of my room!" she yelled, and when Harry looked up at her in surprise, was shocked to see her pointing her wand at him menacingly.

Harry walked backwards toward the door, not taking his eyes off Ginny's wand.

"I'm sorry, Ginny," he finally replied, sprinting out and door and shutting it behind his quickly. Not a second later he heard something heavy, probably her book, slam into it.

Harry walked the few steps to his own room. He ignored Pig's and Hedwig's begging for owl treats and without bothering to turn on the light, changed and slipped into bed. Through the wall he could hear Ginny sobbing; the sound made him feel sick. He pressed a pillow against his head, trying to both drown out the heart breaking sound and stem his own tears.

_It will be better for her in the end_ he reasoned. _She feels hurt now, but not nearly as hurt if I let our relationship go on till I die. If she hates me for this, she will not feel pain for my death. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind._

Harry eventually fell asleep, though he didn't know when. He didn't hear Ron enter, and he slept through the next morning, never hearing Ron wake up and leave for breakfast. When Harry did wake up, he had a splitting sinus headache from crying, and he eyes were red and puffy. The events of the night before made the thought of breakfast very unappetizing, especially because he would have to face Ginny, and the rest of the Weasleys. While washing his face in cold water in hopes of erasing the signs of tears, Ron returned from breakfast, closing the door much harder than usual.

"What the bloody hell did you tell Ginny last night?" Ron shouted. "She looks half dead this morning, refusing to eat and crying all the while!"

"You wouldn't understand," Harry replied in a surprisingly calm voice as he walked back to his bed and starting making it.

"No one bloody understands!" Ron returned. "I thought you cared about her!"

"I do," Harry yelled back, "it was for her own good!"

"If you cared, you wouldn't have broken it off with her last night! I thought you were better than this, Harry."

"Well, apparently you were wrong as usual!"

"Why Ginny didn't hex you last night when she had the chance, I don't know, but I have half a mind…"  
"To do what?" Harry shouted, grabbing his wand from his nightstand and pointing it at Ron, before Ron had even removed his from his pocket.

Ron gulped visibly.

"Now get out and leave me alone!" yelled Harry, watching Ron scurry for the door.

Harry sat alone on his bed, brooding for a good hour before there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" he called moodily.

"It's Molly," came Mrs. Weasley's motherly voice. She didn't wait for Harry to answer, but pushed open the door softly.

Harry half expected her to look furious; Harry had, after all, just broken the heart of her only daughter. Her expression, however, was difficult to read.

"I'm sorry about Ginny," Harry said softly from his bed. "But it's the only way."

"The only way for what, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked quietly, sitting down beside Harry. She rubbed his back with the palm of her hand, and he started to relax.

"To keep her from getting hurt," he replied, trying to hold back tears once more.

"Hurt by whom? You-Know-Who?"

Harry shook his head, "No, by me."

"Harry, dear, you aren't making any sense."

"She told me she loved me."

"I know," Molly replied. "Ginny told me everything that has happened this morning, while I tried to comfort her.

Harry felt a surge of guilt. Mrs. Weasley should have hexed him into oblivion for hurting Ginny, but instead she was sitting there with him, talking to him like he was her own son.

"Did she tell you how she felt when I was injured in Hogsmeade?"

Mrs. Weasley nodded. "She cares deeply for you, Harry."

"I know," Harry responded, sighing deeply. "But what happens to her when it comes time for the prophecy to be fulfilled?"

Comprehension filled Mrs. Weasley's face, and she gathered Harry into a motherly embrace.

"I don't want to die," Harry choked into Mrs. Weasley's shoulder. The kindly woman just hugged him all the tighter, shushing him like one does an infant.

"You do not know that you will be the one to die, Harry," she responded softly. "I have great confidence in you, you are a great wizard. When you defeat Voldemort, what then? Ginny loves you and she will grieve if you die, no matter what you tell her. But when you live, she will be by your side, unless you push her away now. You can not protect her from the twists and turns of life."

"I'm such an idiot," Harry lamented, burying his face in his hands.

"You are not!" Mrs. Weasley replied forcefully. "But tell me one thing; do you love her in return?"

Harry nodded.

"Then tell her about the prophecy. I know I encouraged you not to tell Ron and Hermione about it earlier, but, well, situations change, Harry."

"If I tell her, she is more at risk. If Voldemort found out she knew what was in the prophecy, he would go after her. All he would have to do is look into her mind, and he would know everything. I don't want to put her in that position."

Mrs. Weasley leaned in to give Harry another hug, but from over her shoulder Harry saw something curious just beyond the door.

As soon as his feet thumped onto the floor, there was a scurry of movement by the door. Harry crossed the room quickly and threw open the door, to find Ginny kneeling on the other side, an Extendable Ear in her hand.

A/N ducks as rotten fruit comes flying at her from her computer screen I know people just loved the romance in the last chapter, and I felt really guilty writing this chapter right after, but it was planned and couldn't be avoided. I did, at least, wait till after V-day to post it :) Don't worry, things get happier in the next chapter. Don't forget to Review!


	21. Chapter 21

Last time: As soon as his feet thumped onto the floor, there was a scurry of movement by the door. Harry crossed the room quickly and threw open the door, to find Ginny kneeling on the other side, an Extendable Ear in her hand.

Chapter 21

Ginny was trying to scramble away, crab style. She looked scared, scared of Harry, scared of what his reaction to her eavesdropping would be.

"What did you hear?" Harry demanded.

"Everything," Ginny replied, still on the floor. "Please don't be mad, Harry. I just wanted…no, I needed to know if there was another reason for what you did."

"Do you know what you just did?" Harry yelled; he could feel him losing control of his temper. "The only advantage I have is that Voldemort doesn't know the entire prophecy! Now he can come after you, and learn it from you!"

"Harry, I didn't mean to…I didn't think I would hear…" Ginny was still on the floor, crying once again.

"We need to perform a Memory charm," said Harry, turning his head to look at Mrs. Weasley.

"What? Harry, dear, you can't be serious?" she winced at her bad word choice.

"She can't be allowed to know," Harry returned, pointing to Ginny. "Voldemort will come after her; he will take the information from her mind."

"But V-Voldemort doesn't know I know," Ginny whimpered from the door, now terrified that her memory would be modified. "And you told Mum, and you're not worried about Voldemort coming after her!"

"That's different," Harry shouted back. "She's in the Order!"

"What difference does that make?" Ginny yelled back. "She doesn't stay in Grimmauld Place all the time; she goes to the Burrow sometimes, and out to Diagon Alley, and to the market. There are plenty of opportunities for Voldemort to try and get her if he wanted, but why doesn't he? Because he doesn't know that she knows about your prophecy!"

"I will not cast a Memory charm on my daughter," Mrs. Weasley cut in, ending the discussion. "If you want to modify her memory, you will have to do it yourself." And with that she brushed past Harry, took the Extendable Ear from Ginny and went downstairs.

"Mum! Don't leave me!" Ginny called after her, terrified. "How do you know he won't really do it?"

"Cause he loves you, dear," came the unworried response from below.

Ginny just sat in shocked silence, tears still silently running down her face.

Harry also stood in shocked silence. He didn't know how to perform a Memory charm, well, he knew the incantation, but he didn't know how to control it. They didn't teach those charms until seventh year, and it was probably a good thing too, or gossipy students would be getting their memories erased constantly at school. Harry knew he couldn't risk casting the charm on Ginny; he might cause her entire memory to be erased, instead of just the last ten minutes. And as his temper cooled, he realized that Mrs. Weasley was right, even if he did know the spell, he could not have performed it. What Ginny had heard, she had heard, and nothing could be done to change that; now just the consequences were left to be seen.

Harry, finally, reached out a hand to help Ginny off the floor. "I guess I owe you an explanation," he started, indicating for her to enter the room.

He closed the door and locked it, and on a second thought, shot an Imperturbable spell at it.

He and Ginny stood in awkward silence.

Ginny, finally deciding that she would have to break the silence, sat down on the edge Harry's bed, saying, "So there is a prophecy?"

Harry nodded an informative, but still stayed silent, not sure how to explain it to her. He still didn't want her to know more than what she had heard. Instead, he just sat down beside her on the bed.

"And this is the reason you broke up with me last night?"

Harry nodded again, but added, "you are going to have to realize that there is a chance I could die. No matter how much you love me, you can't fight destiny. I was prophesized as the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, and that is why Voldemort tried to kill me as a baby. I can't tell you exactly what the rest of the prophecy says, because Voldemort doesn't know it. His spies managed to hear the beginning, but not the end. That is why he lured me to the Department of Mysteries last year, only he or I could retrieve the prophecy, but it smashed before he could hear the entire thing."

"I heard enough through the door that I can guess the ending," she replied.

"And that is why I'm afraid Voldemort will come after you."

"Harry, Voldemort could well come after me just for being you girl…ex-girlfriend."

Harry looked at the floor. He had thought of this possibility before, and although it wasn't the main reason, it had added to his motives for the night before.

"Harry, can I ask you something?"

"You can ask, but I won't guarantee I'll be able to answer."

"I heard Mum ask you if you loved me, and then when I called after her just now, she said that you wouldn't mess with my memory because you love me. Do you?"

Harry looked at Ginny's face, picking out the words he wanted to say carefully. "I don't know what love feels like; it's not something I had a lot of as a child. I do know that I feel differently towards you than I do towards Hermione, or how I did towards Cho, so I suppose it must be romantic love."

"So everything you said last night?"

"Were the words of an idiot," Harry replied. "Lies. I hoped that by making you hate me you would feel no sorrow for my death. I hoped that by pushing you away you would be less of a target. But all I succeeded in doing was making both of us miserable."

"Harry, I could never hate you that much!"

"That's what your mum said," Harry replied, giving Ginny a goofy grin. "So will you accept the apology of a Quidditch player who has apparently been hit with one too many bludgers? I'm sorry Ginny, be my girlfriend again?"

"Harry, I don't know..." Ginny answered with a very serious face.

Harry's smile faded instantly. "Of course, I should have expected…"

"Oh, I'm just having a bit of fun with you, you bloke!" Ginny laughed, throwing her arms around Harry's neck. "Of course I'll take you back!"

Harry realized then, that he couldn't protect his friends from Voldemort. Even if he pushed them away, Voldemort could still go after them; and Harry would always try to rescue them, just as he had done with Sirius. Perhaps it was a weakness, but maybe it was also a strength; that Harry had so loved his Godfather and friends that he would rush blindly into danger to save them. Harry was sure Voldemort would not risk sacrificing himself to save a Death Eater, and just maybe, that gave Harry an advantage.

The train ride back to Hogwarts signaled the end of the holidays, always a depressing time. Harry and Ron were sitting in a cabin, feverishly working on last minute essays they had procrastinated on all break.

"Will you please stop making that noise," Ron complained to Hermione, "it makes it hard to concentrate."

Hermione, who had been unconsciously tuting at both of them, gave him a confused look before asking, "what noise, Ronald? I haven't said anything."

"You know, that noise you always make when Harry and I have waited till the last minute to do our homework." Ron imitated Hermione rather badly, causing Harry to snort and smear his essay.

"Well, it's not my fault that you two waited till now to finish your Transfiguration essay. I had mine finished the first week home."

"Well, that is because you are Hermione, and we are Harry and Ron," Ron replied. "If Harry and Ron did their homework during the first week of vacation, we would be Hermione instead of Harry and Ron. And you don't want us stealing your greatness, do you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron before replying, "Please stop taking about yourself in the third person, and concentrate on your essay. You've spelled 'transfiguration' wrong there." She pointed to Ron's essay, causing his face to turn red at his careless mistake.

Harry laughed at the bickering couple and went back to his own essay; but the peace didn't last for long. The compartment door flew open and Ginny skipped in, followed closely by Luna.

"She solved it! She translated Ravenclaw's clue!" Ginny shouted gleefully. "Show them Luna, show them."

Luna, with her usual demeanor, did not seem nearly as excited as Ginny. In fact, after she spread out the translated clue for them to read, she sat down and immersed herself in a copy of the Quibbler.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione all gathered round the piece of parchment, eager to see the next clue.

Above each line of Greek words, Luna had neatly written in the translation.

_Ravenclaw's clue becomes Hufflepuff's,_

_But don't let it get you in a huff._

_In order to continue on your quest,_

_You need not be the bravest or the best._

_This clue is in plain sight for some to see,_

_But for all, there must first be unity._

_You are there when you see badger and snake;_

_For then the final clue is yours to take._

"Lovely, another riddle," Ron moaned. "I hope this one doesn't lead us somewhere dangerous as well." He looked at Hermione, expecting her to explain it.

"What are you looking at me for," she responded. "I don't know what it means yet."

"Well, clearly we are supposed to find a badger and a snake, and there we will find the final clue, Slytherin's," added Harry.

"Yeah, but it isn't that simple," Hermione responded. "You have this bit at the beginning about it being in plain sight for only some to see. If we aren't part of that 'some' we aren't going to have much luck."

"Well, then we hope we _are_ part of that 'some,'" Harry replied.

The train arrived at the Hogsmeade station as scheduled, and the students once again crowded the wooden platform as they pushed their ways toward the waiting carriages. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny, and Neville all piled into one together. They leaned back in the seats, enjoying their last few moments of vacation before the chaos of classes and Quidditch would once again commence. However, those moments of relaxation lasted even shorter than they thought, when they saw Hogwarts loom into view. The grounds around the entire castle were glowing with a shimmering blue color. The only break in the blue was at the gates, where it was replaced by a yellow glow. As the carriages drew closer, the occupants could make out the strange glows better. The blue that surrounded the grounds seem to be a magical fence of sorts, preventing everything from entering the grounds by foot.

When the carriage slowly ground to a halt still outside the grounds, Hermione promptly opened the door and stuck her head out to see what was going on.

"Oohhh," they heard her mumbled with awe.

"What is it?" Ron whined, pushing Hermione out of the way so he could have a look. "What are they doing Hermione?"

"I don't know, Ronald, you didn't let me get a long enough look!"

But Hermione wasn't going to get another look for a while, as Neville, Harry, and Ginny all pushed to see what was going on as well. Luna seemed to be the only one completely disinterested.

Once Harry got his chance to hang his head out of the carriage, the first thing he saw were the thestrals pawing the ground impatiently; but then looking farther up, he saw what was happening at the entrance to the grounds. The yellow glow appeared to be a different sort of barrier, one that the carriages could travel through. However, once through, there were adult wizards stopping each carriage, searching inside and out. Once satisfied, they would allow the thestrals to continue drawing the carriage up to the school.

Slowly the carriages went through the magical check point. As Harry's carriage passed through, the yellow light permeated everything, leaving Harry with a strange tingling sensation. When the carriage once again ground to a stop, the door swung open to reveal Kingsley Shacklebolt and another man whom Harry didn't recognize.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked out of surprise.

The other man scowled at Harry, but Kingsley rather jovially replied, "a group of Aurors have been assignment to help protect Hogwarts. That barrier you just passed through reveals anyone hiding under an invisibility cloak or invisibility spell. What is Mad-Eye always saying, 'Constant Vigilance' and all that?"

He ducked down, apparently to check that no one was hiding under the carriage.

"I'm glad to see that you are ok after what happened at Azkaban," Hermione mentioned tentatively.

"Why, thank you," Kingsley beamed, and Harry noticed a scar on his face that hadn't been there the last time he had seen him. He shut the door to the carriage and gave one of the thestrals a swat on the hindquarters to get it moving again.

"They weren't kidding when they said that were going to be putting protective spells around Hogwarts, were they?" Ron commented as the carriage once again stopped, this time to let them off at the front doors.

"My Gram says they want to make sure You-Know…," Harry was giving him a look very reminiscent of McGonagall when he did something wrong in Transfiguration. "Sorry Harry, to make sure V-Voldemort and his Death Eaters don't get into the castle."

"But Voldemort wouldn't try something like that, would he? I mean, not while Dumbledore is here, right?" asked Ginny.

"No one thought the Death Eaters would attack Hogsmeade," Harry reminded her gently. "In a war you can never be too careful."

Harry and his friends once again found themselves waiting. A long line had formed outside the Great Hall, but no one was able to see what was happening at the front.

"What is taking so long," Harry heard Pansy Parkinson whine to Draco; they were standing only a few people in front of Harry.

"I'll go see who is delaying things," Draco sneered back, but he had barely stepped out of line and towards the front when he stopped dead. Mad-Eye Moody had appeared from near the front, and he was hobbling back down the line.

"Get back in line, Malfoy," he growled dangerous. "You'll just have to wait like everyone else."

"Yeah Malfoy, you wouldn't wait to end up a ferret again, would you?" Harry couldn't help but quip in Draco's direction.

Malfoy turned quickly on his heel, and Harry could tell he wanted very badly to say something nasty in return. However, Harry could also see quite a bit of fear showing through his usual smug demeanor; he wouldn't dare say anything to possibly invoke Moody's anger again. For all the horrible things that had happened in his fourth year, Harry couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of gratitude to the fake Moody for transfiguring Malfoy into a ferret and sending him bouncing down the corridor.

"What are we waiting for?" Ron asked Moody nervously.

"Don't you worry about it, Weasley," was the response.

As the line moved forward, Harry finally managed to get a glimpse of what was happening at the front of the line. There were two wizards blocking the entrance to the Great Hall. One was holding a wand, the other a clipboard and quill. As each student approached, they were asked to say their full name. The first wizard would then cast some sort of spell on the student, causing the air above them to glow green for a second. At this, the second wizard would mark something off on the clipboard; and the first would cast another spell, this time on the student's wand. Finally, the student would be handed back their wand and allowed to enter the Great Hall.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny passed the time in line by talking about Quidditch, that is, until they heard Hermione mumble, "he always has to be a little git, doesn't he?"

Harry looked up to see Hermione staring at the front of the line, where Malfoy was arguing with the two wizards.

"Why do you want my wand? What are you going do to it?" he demanded.

The first wizard, who seemed very impatient, replied curtly, "if you want to be able to do magic, you need to give me your wand. A spell has been placed on the school to ensure that only wands belonging to students and faculty will work properly."

"How do I know the spell you are going to put on it won't mess with the core? It's a very expensive wand."

"It's just a bloody Concedor spell," the wizard replied moodily. "Now please just hand me your wand and state your full name."

"Fine," Malfoy replied, thrusting his wand into the wizard's hands and telling the other wizard his name.

Once Harry and the others passed through the second check point, they took their usual seats in the Great Hall. Ron's stomach growled loudly, causing some of the third years farther down the table to look at him strangely.

"Can't a bloke be hungry," he shot back angrily at them. "Bloody protection is taking it twice as long for dinner to be served."

"Ronnie gets cranky when he hasn't been fed," Ginny teased.

When all the students had finally passed into the Great Hall, Dumbledore stood as usual. "I would like to welcome everyone back; I hope you all had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday. As you probably noticed, there are several spells and protection charms protecting the castle; some are visible and others are not. The towers are being guarded by Aurors assigned by the Ministry of Magic. Although most are very amiable people, I ask that you leave them to do their jobs and do not hamper them in any way."

Life at Hogwarts was not very different from the way it had been before the protection spells. Harry still had classes to take and teach, Occlumency lessons, and Quidditch practices three times a week; though Katie was threatening to make them every night if they didn't improve. Their match against Ravenclaw was coming up, and although the rest of the team didn't see Ravenclaw as too much of a challenge, Katie wouldn't let anyone become overconfident.

So, Harry and Ron could be found, after one such Quidditch practice, hovering just above the main entrance to the school. They were examining the large Hogwarts crest that had been carved there, at Hermione's insistence. She was thoroughly convinced that the clue would be found somewhere on one of the crests, since it was the only place she could think of where a snake and badger were carved together. They had already searched all the obvious crests inside the school, and now Harry and Ron had been charged with the task of combing the outside of the castle to find any hidden inscriptions there.

"What do you two think you are doing?" came McGonagall's shrill voice from below. As usual, her lips were tightly pursed and her arms were crossed.

"Just looking at this carving," Harry replied jovially, knowing that he and Ron must appear just slightly insane.

"And tell me Mr. Potter, have you found anything worth looking for?"

"No," Ron replied instead, sounding disappointed. "Just the usual crest with the usual Latin inscription."

"Well then, do you think you two could join those of us who walk on the ground?"

"Yes, Ma'am," they replied harmoniously, landing with small thuds just beyond the entrance. McGonagall gave them stern looks are they walked past her and toward the Gryffindor common room.

"Where could it be?" Hermione said to herself. "We've checked everywhere, even on the outside of the castle. I've picked through _Hogwarts, A History_ five times, where could it be?"

"Stop talking to yourself and have some breakfast," Ron instructed Hermione, pushing a plate of toast toward her. "Not eating won't help us figure out Hufflepuff's clue any faster."

"I don't know how you two can be so…so…calm. If we don't solve Hufflepuff's clue we will not find Slytherin's, and then we will never find the solution to saving Hogwarts."

"I don't think Hogwarts needs saving," Ron replied nonchalantly. "I mean, look around Hermione. The Ministry is doing a fine job."

"I don't think we are supposed to be worried about outside forces. Remember what the Sorting Hat warned, about being divided? And we still have the "lets kick Harry out" factions, and the "hand him over to the Dark Lord" circle, and the "get rid of the Slytherins" movement…"

"I'm a member of that one," Harry joked to Ron.

"This isn't a laughing matter!" Hermione reprimanded. "We don't know what the future is bringing, and having what the founders thought was the solution to saving Hogwarts wouldn't hurt!"

Their dispute was interrupted when Ernie Macmillan walked up to ask Hermione about their transfiguration assignment. He happened to look down at the table and see the copy of Hufflepuff's clue that Hermione had spread out.

"Hey, what's this, a riddle?"

"Don't worry about it," Hermione responded. "I haven't figured it out yet."

"Well, can I take a look at it? I'm pretty good with riddles."

Hermione clearly looked like she didn't expect a mere Hufflepuff to solve the clue, a Ravenclaw perhaps, but Hermione was the brightest witch in her year. If she couldn't figure it out, who could?

Ernie hadn't waited for an answer, but pushed in between Ron and Hermione and sat down. He took a few seconds to read through the riddle, before replying, "There is an inscription above the fireplace in the Hufflepuff common room. It doesn't make too much sense, something about statues, but there is a carving of a badger before it and a snake after it. The first years always ask about it, but no one knows where it came from."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all gaped at him.

"It makes perfect sense," Hermione finally muttered. "'this clue is in plain sight for some to see'; a specific common room would make it plain for only some to see. And we would need unity, or at least communication, with the other houses to see it ourselves. Ernie, can you go copy down the whole inscription for us?"

"I don't have time now," Ernie replied, "but I will bring a copy with me to dinner and bring it to you then."

Hermione looked like she was ready to hug him. "Thank you!"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I don't know how much writing I will get done this coming week, but I will try to have the next chapter up soon. Don't forget to review! I've decided to allow anonymous reviews now.


	22. Chapter 22

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I had some questions about Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's clues, and I apologize for writing it in a confusing manner. Basically, Ravenclaw's clue was what was written on the stone in the Dark Forest; the way to solve it was to translate it to English, which is what Luna did. Once it was translated it became Hufflepuff's clue. I tried to express this in the first line of the translated clue, "Ravenclaw's clue becomes Hufflepuff's," but apparently I didn't explain it very well. So I hope this clears up the confusion. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and please remember to REVIEW!

Chapter 22

Anticipation of dinner and Ernie bringing them Slytherin's clue made classes crawl by for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. By the end of the school day, they were so excited about the prospect of seeing the final clue that not even Hermione could concentrate on homework before dinner.

They were among the first students to enter the Great Hall for supper, and Ernie was nowhere to be seen. They barely talked as they ate, but instead kept their eyes fixed on the doorway for any sign of the Hufflepuff. When he finally entered about half an hour later, Hermione got up and practically tackled him. He didn't seem to understand what all the fuss was about, and he gave her a piece of parchment along with an odd look as he continued to the Hufflepuff table and Hermione returned to Gryffindor's.

Ron and Harry crowded close to Hermione on either side as she spread out the crumpled piece of parchment. Ernie had scrawled two sentences on it, between two very rough depictions of a badger and a snake.

Hermione's face seemed to fall as she read the sentences out loud, "I have marked ten statues to hold the final clues. You must find them in age order or the secret you will lose."

"What's wrong, is it not Slytherin's clue?" Harry asked, perplexed at Hermione's reaction.

She shook her head, "oh, it's Slytherin's clue, but do you have any idea how many statues are in the school?"

"No," Ron replied, "but I bet you do."

"Three hundred and twelve," Hermione replied. "Leave it to the original Slytherin to leave a clue this vague and expect us to find ten hand picked statues out of over three hundred."

"So we'll just have to work extra hard on this one," Harry reassured. "We can simply check out every statue, it might take us till the end of the term, but we'll get it done."

Hermione smiled back at Harry. "You have enough things to do already, Harry. Ron and I will recruit Ginny, and we can search the statues. I'm not even going to worry about it until after your match against Ravenclaw."

The Quidditch match against Ravenclaw fell on a cold, miserable, snowy day. Neither Harry nor Ron really wanted to drag themselves out of their warm beds and walk down through the chilly castle, but Katie had instilled enough fear of her wrath in them that they ignored their sleepy urges and got up anyway. The rest of the team seemed just as tired and unenergetic as they dressed in silence in the locker rooms.

Katie scowled at all of them; her hands perched on her hips. "Do you lot really expect to win with this attitude? Show some spirit!"

"It's too early and too cold to have spirit," Ginny grumbled back, shivering through her robe and gear.

"Oh, so that's the problem," Katie replied, an insane glint in her eyes.

Harry knew that look all too well. Perhaps, he thought, it wasn't Oliver Wood's influence on Katie, but some strange insanity that befell all Gryffindor Quidditch Captains.

Katie had whipped out her wand, pointing it menacingly at her team.

"I think Katie has gone mad," Shelby whispered to Ginny.

"If warm and awake is what you want to be, I have the perfect solution," Katie announced, "pre-game calisthenics! We start with jumping jacks."

They rest of the team now joined Shelby in thinking Katie had gone off the deep end. Katie, however, ignored the looks she was receiving and began to do her prescribed jumping jacks. He glared at her team, daring them to disobey, and slowly the others joined in.

"I will not do jumping jacks," Andrew announced, crossing his arms in defiance. "We are playing Quidditch, not football. The only strength I need is in my arms."

"You will join your team mates," Katie threatened, waving her wand at him. Andrew, however, continued to just stand with his arms crossed. "I warned you," Katie replied lightheartedly, flicking her wand in Andrew's direction. Instantly his legs started doing jumping jacks of their own accord. Harry and the others laughed as Andrew looked down at his unruly legs, trying desperately to regain control. Finally, Katie flicked her wand again and the spell ended. Andrew, having learned his lesson, joined in the exercises with the rest of the team.

By the time they were ready to go out onto the pitch, Katie had them do jumping jacks, stretching exercises, push ups, more stretching, and jogging in place. As promised, they were both warm and awake, making the blast of cold air that hit them when they walked out onto the field all the more unpleasant.

Madam Hooch gave her usual pre-game talk on fair play and sportsmanship. Katie, and Cho, who had been named the Ravenclaw captain, shook hands and wished each other good luck before mounting their brooms. As Madam Hooch blew her whistle, the Bludgers and Snitch took flight, and a few seconds later she had released the Quaffle as well, and the game began.

As Harry rose quickly into the air, the snow swirled around him, making visibility tough. Cho was back to using her old tactics, and kept close to him instead of searching elsewhere for the Snitch. Harry didn't really mind, he was confident that even if she got a head start on him, his Firebolt could outstrip her easily.

Because of the snow, it was hard for Harry to see what was going on below, so he had to rely on the announcer. With Lee Jordan's graduation the year before, a fourth year Hufflepuff had taken over the post. She was good, but just didn't possess the same spirit as Lee had.

"And Gryffindor catches the Quaffle. Bell is off toward the Ravenclaw posts, but Wuthers and Henson, the new Ravenclaw Chaser, are closing in on both sides, preventing her from passing to Rancing. Oh, but Bell makes a great pass straight up into the air, as Weasley, the Chaser not the Keeper, swoops down to snatch the Quaffle. She dodges a Bludger, can't tell where it came from with the snow, and passes to her left. Rancing catches the Quaffle and races toward the waiting Ravenclaw Keeper, Herdes."

A burst of cheering from the Gryffindor stands assured Harry that they had scored, drowning out the announcer temporarily. When Harry finally heard her again, Ravenclaw had the Quaffle and was heading towards Ron. Suddenly a Bludger came whipping up through the snow, between Cho and Harry. A few seconds later, a Ravenclaw beater appeared, speeding after the heavy ball. Harry had to chuckle as the Beater jokingly saluted Cho with his club, then turned to smack the Bludger back down into the snowy abyss.

Below, Gryffindor had managed to get the Quaffle back without letting Ravenclaw score. Harry knew Ravenclaw still wasn't playing with all their usual gusto after the loss of one of the Chaser's in the Hogsmeade attack, and the more Gryffindor scored, the more subdued the Ravenclaw team became.

Cho was still checking Harry's every move, but they both knew they weren't going to spot the Snitch in the snow unless it landed on one of their heads. Harry flew aimlessly around the pitch, hoping to just stumble across the Snitch. Catching a snippet from the announcer, Harry learned Gryffindor was up by ninety points.

As the game commenced into the second hour, Harry found he was so numb that he didn't notice the cold as much as before. When he glanced over at Cho, he saw that her lips were a light shade of blue and her dark hair was blanketed with snow. Somewhere behind her he saw a glint of gold, and he immediately tore after it. Cho, who had apparently noticed the change in his expression right before he dove, also turned and shot after the Snitch. Harry could catch just brief glimpses of the Snitch through the snow, as he came level with Cho. She gave him a sidelong glance, knowing his broom was faster than hers; and deciding it was better to block him than try and race him, she suddenly turned her broom into his flight path.

Harry, however, was not easily fooled twice. After being thrown off the trail of the Snitch in his third year with the same maneuver, Harry anticipated it, and instead of veering off course to avoid a collision, pulled his broom up sharply, just clearing Cho's head. Once he was past her, he pointed his broom back toward its original path, hoping the Snitch hadn't made a sudden turn. Ahead, the golden snitch was clearly visible, hovering in place. Harry reached out a hand and easily grabbed the winged ball. As no one could see him very well through the falling snow, Harry dove toward the ground to show Madam Hooch that he had ended the game.

As her whistle blew, the announcer proclaimed to the stands, "Gryffindor wins, 250 to 20!"

A massive cheer rose from the Gryffindor stands and Harry was engulfed by his team mates.

"Thanks mate," Ron laughed. "A few more minutes and I think my bum would have been frozen to my broomstick."

After a long, hot shower Harry finally headed back toward the common room. It seemed that most of Gryffindor was huddled around the fire, trying to regain feeling in their fingers and toes from watching the match. The house elves had delivered two very large kettles of tea to the common rooms to try and speed up the reheating process, and Harry promptly poured himself a cup, watching as the kettle magically refilled itself. He sat down across from Hermione, who was deeply absorbed in a book.

"Homework?" he asked, taking a sip and reveling in the warm feeling that traveled through his body.

Hermione shook her head, "No, I'm looking through _Hogwarts, A History_ to see which statues date back to the time of the founders and which were added later. I hope that I can at least narrow our search a little bit that way. Ron, Ginny, and I are going to go clue hunting next week when you have your Occlumency lesson."

Harry groaned. He had been trying not to think about his Occlumency lessons. His progress had all but halted when it came to being able to lie effectively, and although he did practice in what little time he had, Snape was becoming increasingly irritable with him. And the next lesson would be no different than the last.

"You have to concentrate, Potter. If you can not effectively block the memories and emotion associated with the lie, you will be found out."

"Yes, sir," Harry replied moodily, his head aching from the mental gymnastics he was putting it through.

"Now, tell me, where were you last night?"

Harry, for a second, thought about telling the truth, but he quickly squashed that idea. He didn't really feel like telling any of his professors, especially Snape, that he and Ginny had been snogging in the locker room after Quidditch practice.

"I was in the common room, doing my Potions essay," Harry replied instead, trying very hard to picture himself doing just that, but images of Ginny kept popping up in his mind instead.

Snape nearly smiled, his lip curling in a half smirk. "You will have to try harder than that, Potter. And ten points from Gryffindor for your and Ms. Weasley's nocturnal activities."

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but realized it would only result in more points being taken. His usual loathing feeling for Snape doubled as he was excused from the Potion Master's office, with the final comment of, "and I will be informing the Headmaster of your lack of progress."

Harry slouched down onto a sofa next to Ginny when he returned to the common room. "I certainly hope your night was better than mine," he said grumpily.

"I wish," Ron replied from the chair to Harry's right. "We discovered all the bloody statues have inscriptions. How are we supposed to know which ones Slytherin marked?"

"So that leaves us back at square one?" Harry asked.

"More or less," Hermione replied, looking up briefly from her homework. "I managed to narrow down the number of statues to about 100, but as Ron said, most have inscriptions of some sort. I just wish Slytherin would have left more hints. Even if we looked at all 100, and we can't because some are in common rooms other than ours, we wouldn't know what Slytherin's marks were."

After a week, and still no advances when it came to Slytherin's clue, Harry and Ron had pretty much given up hope of them ever solving it. They commiserated this fact as they, along with Hermione, walked toward the Great Hall for lunch. As they rounded a corner along the fourth floor, there was a sudden impact, sending books, parchment, and ink flying in all directions.

"Watch where you are going, Malfoy," Ron sneered at the blonde Slytherin who was currently sitting on the flagstone floor.

Harry held out a hand to help Hermione off the floor, while he also glared daggers at Malfoy, even though he knew they hadn't been paying attention either.

"I don't move out of the way for Mudbloods," Malfoy spat, scrambling off the floor and brushing himself off. "Well, why haven't you picked up my things for me?" he demanded of Crabbe and Goyle.

The two thugs immediately bent over to start retrieving Malfoy's belongings, and as they both reached for the last book, banged heads together with a hollow sounding thud.

Harry and Ron had both pulled out their wands, and were pointing them threateningly at Malfoy, who in turn had pulled his out as well.

"Take that back," Ron growled.

"Or we'll hex you worse than we did on the train," Harry added.

Behind them, Hermione was just finishing collecting her things from the floor. She seemed suddenly very excited about something, and whispered urgently, "He's not worth it, you two. Come on, besides, I have something to tell you both." And with great difficulty she dragged them both away, ignoring Malfoy's insults that he shot after them.

"Why didn't you let us hex him?" Ron complained. "He needs to be taught a lesson for saying things like that."

"You should just thank me for saving you two from a week of detentions and a whole slew of lost points. Just ignore him, besides, the prat unwittingly helped us with Slytherin's clue."

"He did?" Harry and Ron chorused.

Hermione nodded, wearing her usual look of intelligent superiority. "What statues would the original Slytherin have picked? I highly doubted they would be random, but I couldn't figure it out till now. Salazar, being the original Slytherin, probably chose statues of wizards who were purebloods. It was so simple, but it never crossed my mind till Malfoy made that comment."

"So, are we going looking for the statues now?" Ron whimpered, looking longingly in the direction of the Great Hall. Hermione had been leading them back to the common room rather than to lunch.

"You two go eat," Hermione replied, slightly exasperated. "I'm going to go grab my copy of _Hogwarts, A History_, then I'll join you in the Great Hall."

When Hermione joined them, she ignored the food and instead started digesting the information in the book.

Ron leaned over to look at the page, munching loudly on a sandwich and dropping crumbs on the pages, causing Hermione to give him a dirty look.

"Hermione, are you sure this book is correct?" he asked through a mouthful.

"Of course I am, Ron, and please don't talk with your mouth full."

Ron chewed a few more times, and after finally swallowing, added, "then why are some of the statues listed as both half-blood and pure-blood?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and replied, as if it were the most obvious thing ever, "the first category is from the founder's age. There was a one drop rule when it came to blood lines. One drop of Muggle blood anywhere in your ancestry and you were half-blood, but later the Ministry changed the rules, and a lot of the wizards that were considered half-blood by the former standards became pure-bloods. That is what the second category is, the new standards."

"Oh," Ron replied, still completely nonplussed.

Harry laughed at Ron's confusion, and turning to Hermione, asked, "so, with this new information, how many statues do we need to peruse?"

Hermione looked up and smiled at him, "only twenty. There were only twenty statues of wizards who were considered pure-bloods at the time Salazar Slytherin."


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Wow, it's been forever since I was able to update. School has been absolutely insane lately with the end of the semester creeping ever closer. I think my professors collaborate to make huge projects all due on the same day. But here it is, the next chapter. I honestly can't tell you when the next one will be up, cause next week starts a whole new round of presentations due for three of my classes. Hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to review.

Chapter 23

The flagstone corridor floor was very hard under Harry's knees as he knelt to examine the base of a statue.

Marius the Brave, the inscription read. Harry didn't think that was any indication of a marking left by Salazar Slytherin, but they still really weren't sure what they were looking for. It had been a few days after Hermione's revelation before Harry was able to find the time to come out and search for the final clues to the founders' crypt. Following the second sentence of Slytherin's clue, Hermione had ordered all the statues according to the date their namesake died, going from oldest to youngest.

From the other side of the statue, Harry heard Ron give a small yelp and crawl back towards Hermione. He mouthed the word spider as he cowered behind Hermione's legs, still on the ground.

"Honestly, Ron," Hermione exclaimed, looking down at him.

"Well, I don't see you down on your hands and knees," he replied, ignoring Harry's laughter.

"I'm keeping watch using the Marauder's Map and writing down anything that you two might discover," she replied, sounding as if the very idea of her doing differently was preposterous.

Harry vaguely listened to the couple arguing, as Ginny took Ron's place.

"Ron, it was dead!" she exclaimed as she poked around the back of the statue, trying to see if there were any inscriptions back there.

"I swear it moved," Ron replied, having finally got himself off the floor, but still standing back from the statue.

Ginny just shook her head and mumbled, "Lumos," lighting the small space with the tip of her wand. "Hey, there is something here," she cried after a few seconds.

"What is it?" Hermione asked instantly while Harry crowded close to Ginny to see for himself.

Peering into the grimy space between the wall and the back of the statue, Harry saw an etching of a serpent, very much like those marking the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Below the snake was inscribed the letter 'A.'

Hermione wrote down what was reported, and happily crossed off Marius the Brave's name from her list. "One down, nineteen more to go," she announced jollily. "Next one is on the fourth floor, east corridor, Scipio Antonius."

However, the statue of Scipio Antonius did not have any markings like the one on Marius the Brave, and neither did the third statue on Hermione's list. In addition, it was taking them much longer than they had anticipated, since they occasionally had to take refuge in a spare classroom to avoid a wandering teacher or student. It wasn't past curfew, but they didn't really feel like explaining why they were aimlessly walking the halls, examining random statues.

Finally, the fourth statue on the list, Calonice the Conspirator , revealed another serpent and the letter 'P.' It became clear to the four students that Slytherin's clue was literally spelling something out, which why it was so important that the statue were examined in a certain order. They looked at two more statues without any success before Hermione suggested they head back to the common room.

"The next statue is in the Slytherin common room," she confessed. "I somehow doubt Malfoy would just invite us in if we knocked; so any ideas on how to get in?"

"We could do what we did in second year," Ron suggested.

"That would take too long," Hermione replied instantly.

"What would take too long? What did you three do in second year? You've been in the Slytherin common room?" Ginny looked at Hermione, Ron, and Harry in turn.

"I'll explain it later," Harry responded, chuckling at Ginny's pout at being left out of a secret.

Harry, however, wasn't laughing as he walked slowly toward Dumbledore's office the next night. He had to turn in his lesson plans, but he also had a nasty feeling that Dumbledore was going to want to talk about his progress, or lack thereof, in Occlumency.

As he entered the office, Dumbledore looked up from his paperwork to greet him, as did some of the portraits who had become accustomed to seeing him every week. Harry handed Dumbledore his lesson plans before sitting down. Dumbledore approved the plans, as usual, but didn't give them back to Harry immediately. Instead he glanced over at Harry over his half-moon spectacles, giving him an appraising sort of look.

He began by offering Harry a lemon drop, which Harry politely declined, before saying, "Professor Snape was in to see me about you last week."

As he paused, Harry seized the opportunity to defend himself. "I know you aren't pleased with my progress in Occlumency. But I've been practicing, I swear I have. I just have this sort of block; I promise I'm going to keep trying…"

Dumbledore held up a hand to stop Harry's hurried speech.

"I was not going to lecture you about you performance, rather I was going to suggest that I take over your instruction in Occlumency."

"Oh," Harry responded, feeling rather stupid. "Though, I thought you wanted Professor Snape to teach me because I would be less at ease around him?"

"I still feel your mutual animosity will better prepare you for what you would face with Voldemort, but no progress is not helping the situation. I will hopefully be able to help you overcome this stumbling block. However, while I will train you, I will still occasionally have Professor Snape test you."

"So when is the first lesson?" Harry asked happily, not at all sorry to be out of Snape's extracurricular lessons.

"Right now," Dumbledore replied. "And every week when you bring me your lesson plans."

An hour later, Harry left Dumbledore's office feeling much more confident about Occlumency that he ever had with Snape. He hadn't made some sudden breakthrough, but just the way Professor Dumbledore taught made him feel less idiotic. He was praised for anything he did right, and Snape's usual insults were gone from the curriculum.

The common room was filled with busy students when Harry entered. As the end of the term crept ever closer, the teachers seemed to be piling more and more homework onto the students. The fifth and seventh years were already beginning the heavy studying for their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.Ts, but Harry swore his professors thought the sixth years should be studying as well.

Ron and Hermione were hunched over several rolls of parchments and text books, and Ginny was curled up on a sofa with her books spread out around her.

"That took longer than usual," Ginny commented as Harry pushed Crookshanks aside to take a seat next to his girlfriend.

Harry explained the new Occlumency schedule while he flipped through his potions text book to find the passage he needed for Snape's latest evil essay.

"So, are you ever going to tell me what you three did in second year?" Ginny inquired, trying to sound innocent and disinterested, but failing miserably.

"Aren't you supposed to be studying?" Harry responded jokingly, knowing the suspense was killing her.

"My brain is full," she announced. "Too much studying isn't healthy."

"Hear, hear," Ron yelled from the nearby table, before Hermione teasingly smacked him and forced him back to his assignments.

Harry laughed as Ginny continued to stare expectantly at him, before he finally leaned in and whispered about the Polyjuice potion and interrogating Malfoy to see if he was the heir of Slytherin.

Ginny, however, found that the secret wasn't much to her liking. "And you didn't need to look any farther that your own house to find the culprit," she replied quietly.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," Harry replied reassuringly, sliding an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to him.

Ginny huffed before replying, "yeah, no one can blame a weak, stupid little girl for letting herself be possessed by a bloody memory from a bloody book."

Harry looked down at her, waiting for her to make eye contact back. "You weren't weak, or stupid. It could have happened to anyone. I was possessed by the real thing. I know how it feels. It wasn't your fault."

Ginny gave him a small smile before lifting her head up to kiss him lightly.

They were interrupted by a gagging sound behind them, as Ron made faces in their direction. He was quieted by another playful smack from Hermione, who once again turned his attention back to his homework.

Harry also turned back to his work, but Ginny wasn't giving up and going back to her assignments so quickly.

"Have you figured out how you are getting into the Slytherin common room?" she asked, desperate for something to think about other than school work.

Harry shook his head. "I haven't even had time to think about it yet," he confessed.

"If only there was some way to get inside without being seen. I don't suppose sixth years learn any invisibility charms?" Ginny mused.

The idea hit Harry like a speeding bludger. Last time, they needed to talk with Malfoy, thus the polyjuice potion was the only option, but this time he just needed to get in and out without being seen. "Of course," Harry mumbled to himself. "All I'll need to do is follow Malfoy back from dinner, sneak through the entrance after him, and find the statue. Then, when some other Slytherin enters of exits, I can leave. Ginny, you're brilliant."

"Umm, ok, thanks," Ginny returned, confused. "Though I still don't know how you intend on being invisible, I mean it isn't like you can just conjure an invisibility cloak from someplace."

Harry laughed; he had forgotten that Ginny didn't know about his father's cloak. Well, they were dating, he thought, so she deserved to be in on the secret.

Harry ate quickly at dinner the next night, watching Malfoy the entire time so he didn't miss when he left. His invisibility cloak was tucked into his bag, ready to be pulled out the minute Malfoy started for the Slytherin common room.

"I should be back in plenty of time for Quidditch practice," Harry told Ron and Ginny, "but just in case I'm late, cover for me with Katie, please?"

"You have your half of the mirror in case something goes wrong, right?" Ginny prodded; obviously worried that he was going to be caught.

"Don't worry, Ginny," Harry replied, showing her the mirror in his pocket. At that moment, Malfoy, trailed by Crabbe and Goyle, stalked past, heading for the exit.

Harry waited for a few seconds before getting up and following them out at a safe distance. He started walking up the stairs, as if he were going back to the Gryffindor common room, but stopped half way up. Checking to see that no one was watching, he quickly slipped out the shimmering cloak and wrapped it around himself. Peering cautiously through the semi-translucent material, he hurried back down the steps and toward the dungeons. He jogged as quickly as he could without risking his feet showing, and it wasn't long before he caught up with Malfoy. As they approached the section of wall where Harry knew the common room entrance was hidden, he closed the gap between himself and the Slytherins even more, ensuring that he could slip through before the barrier could close.

"Sleeping Potion," Draco drawled, and the concealed door slid open.

Malfoy entered first, followed by Crabbe and Goyle, and finally Harry, who slipped in only a few seconds before the door slid closed again.

Harry watched silently as Malfoy led Crabbe and Goyle toward the roaring fire. He chased a pair of first year Slytherins out of the high backed chairs surrounding the fire before sitting down himself. Harry tried to ignore them as Malfoy launched into a spiel on the importance of blood purity.

The statue he was looking for was near the back of the room, pushed back into a niche in the wall. Harry careful navigated the tables and chairs that dotted the room, mindful not to bump into anything. Despite the heat from the fire, the Slytherin common room gave a very cold impression. There were no squashy sofas like in the Gryffindor common room, and all the chairs were high backed and very rigid. Not for the first time, Harry thanked his lucky stars that the Sorting Hat had finally decided on Gryffindor.

Upon reaching the statue, Harry knelt down and started examining the base. He went immediately to the back, where the other inscriptions had been located. The dim lighting from the green lanterns that hung from the ceiling was not much help, but Harry knew he couldn't risk casting lumos. Squinting in order to see, he was able to just make out a carved serpent and the letter 'E.'

Satisfied that his job was done, Harry began to cross back over to the stone door, where he would wait for a Slytherin to enter or exit so that he could slip out unnoticed. As he passed Malfoy, he picked up on his conversation and stopped dead.

Malfoy, believing the common room was thoroughly empty, was talking quite freely about his father and his activity with Voldemort, albeit in a lower voice that he usually used.

"…father says things are almost in place for the attack. The information I gave him proved to be extremely useful, and a plan has already been laid. He says the Dark Lord has an informant who can get them in…"

At that moment, the stone door slid open once more, as Pansy Parkinson entered with two other Slytherin girls. Malfoy immediately stopped speaking, and Harry, as much as he wanted to stay and continue eavesdropping on Malfoy, knew he had to take this chance to leave. Once out of the Slytherin common room, Harry went directly to Dumbledore's office. He reported what he had heard Malfoy saying, while trying to leave out the part about being in the Slytherin common room. Dumbledore seeming grateful for the information, but Harry knew without more specifics the information would probably only prove useful in retrospect.

Harry didn't have enough time to go back to the common room and report his findings to Hermione without being late for Quidditch practice. Ron and Ginny were eagerly awaiting his arrival on the pitch, and immediately started pestering him about what he had found. Not wanting to talk in front of the rest of the team, Harry responded that he would tell them in the common room later.

Later ended up being much later, since Katie had decided to work them extra long and extra hard that practice. Harry, Ron, and Ginny wanted to do nothing more than go to bed by the time they trooped back to the common room, but each had homework awaiting them instead.

Harry, as promised, told Hermione, Ron, and Ginny first about the statue in the Slytherin common room, then about the conversation he had overheard. None of them seemed all that surprised to hear that Draco was helping his father or that an attack was imminent somewhere; they had become far to used to Death Eater attacks the past year.

In their meager free time over the next week, Harry and the others managed to hunt down five more of the statues, finding two more of Slytherin's mysterious letters, an 'R' and an 'I.' They were now half way down; only ten more statues to go. Hermione was urging them to skip the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin Quidditch match that weekend to finish searching. She argued that the castle would be mostly empty, so they could search much faster than normally. However, Ron, Harry, and Ginny all adamantly refused missing a Quidditch match, especially one where they hoped to see Slytherin trounced yet again.

Hermione finally gave in, but warned them that she would be dragging them out every day the following week to search. She wanted to get this riddle solved as far before the end of term as possible, so that it couldn't interfere with her studying for final exams.

The Quidditch match for Slytherin and Hufflepuff was vastly important for both teams. If Hufflepuff won, they would go on to play Gryffindor for the cup as an undefeated team, they would also knock Slytherin into the losers' bracket, to vie with Ravenclaw for a single win between them. Hence, both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw houses were rooting for Hufflepuff.

Harry was jealous of the weather for the match. It was a bright sunny day, and though it was still cold, was still much preferable than the snow storm Harry had been forced to play during. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione treated the match as an opportunity for a double date, since all trips to Hogsmeade had been canceled. However, Dumbledore had arranged a surprise for the school, and had brought Hogsmeade to Hogwarts.

Long tables had been set up outside the stadium for students to browse before filing into the seats for the match. Each table belonged to a different shop in Hogsmeade, who had brought some of their most popular wares to sell. Madam Rosemerta had her table lined with bottles and bottled of butterbeer, which she would open and warm up with a spell for the students. Honeydukes, having rebuilt its establishment in Hogsmeade after the attack, but now having a severe lack of customers due to cancellations of Hogsmeade weekends, had lined two tables full of boxes of candy, chocolate, and other sweets to tempt the students. Zonko's was another popular table, and many students could be seen stocking up on Dung Bombs, Hiccup Sweets, and various other mischievous items that would make Filch cringe.

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione entered the stadium loaded down with sweets, both to eat during the match and for later, as well as a bottle of steaming butterbeer each. They snuggled into their seats, each respective partner in the couplings staying close to the other for warmth. Ginny couldn't help giggling when she noticed that Ron had wrapped his cloak around both himself and Hermione to stop her from shivering.

The match started and it soon became clear that Slytherin was willing to do almost anything to win and prevent themselves from loosing two in a row. So many fouls were being committed that Madam Hooch was often so busy blowing her whistle at one, that she completely missed another. All the penalty shots put Hufflepuff ahead by fifty points an hour into the game, but with no sign yet of the Snitch, everyone knew it was still anyone's game.

Harry spotted something high above them, and craning his head to look skyward, he saw the two seekers streaking after an almost invisible glint of gold. If Harry hadn't immediately remembered that he would have to play against the Hufflepuff seeker himself, he would have laughed out loud at how he out flew Malfoy. There was no doubt that he was a very good flier, and had caught the tiny Snitch in a matter of seconds.

Harry joined with the rest of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw houses in cheering the Hufflepuff win, but he still couldn't shake the uncertainty he felt in the back of his mind. He would have to ask Katie what she knew about the Hufflepuff seeker so he could prepare the best he could for their upcoming match.

A/N: I couldn't remember if Ginny knew about Harry's invisibility cloak or not, so I went with not. If someone can site where she learned about it somewhere in the book, I would be very appreciative. Oh, and for anyone who is interested, I did post a new one shot a few weeks ago called Box Seats. It's a romantic fluffy fic about Oliver Wood and Katie Bell, so if your into the fluff, go check it out!


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: I know there isn't a good reason for it being over a year since I updated this fic. I was out of the country for three months when HBP came out, and after reading it, didn't think anyone would care if I finished this story. Originally, I started writing it only to keep myself buys prior to HBP. However, readers made their opinions clear; they wanted me to finish. So I'll be finishing. If you haven't read in a while, you probably want to read the last couple of chapters again so you're not confused.

Chapter 24

As the days after the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin Quidditch match passed, Harry progressively found himself feeling more and more like Hermione must have felt in her third year. There was no doubt that Hufflepuff had an excellent Quidditch team, and Katie was running her team haggard with practices. In addition to the grueling practices, the homework hadn't eased up either. Harry also still had Occlumency lessons to worry about and practice for, as well as his own DA classes to prepare for. To add to everything, Hermione was determined to solve the clues they had discovered so many months earlier. Every time Harry thought he had a moment of free time, Hermione caught him and dragged him out to search century old statues for serpent inscriptions.

After two weeks of this, Harry desperately wanted a day devoted just to sleep. He was hoping that the day of the Slytherin versus Ravenclaw match would present him that opportunity, waking only for the match, and then returning to his bed. Hermione, however, announced she had different plans. They had discovered the letters 'O,' 'R,' and 'I' carved onto Slytherin's desired statues. Hermione thought the Saturday morning before the match would be the perfect time to search the last four statues and hopefully finish whatever word Salazar Slytherin had wanted to spell. So, instead of precious sleep, Harry found himself once more searching the dark corners around statues for inscriptions.

"There is a 'U' here," Harry reported to Hermione, as he got off his knees, not bothering to stifle a large yawn.

"There are only two more statues to look at," Hermione reported happily, leading them toward the fourth floor and checking her watch. "And we should be done in plenty of time to go to the Quidditch match."

"How about time for a nap," Ron grumbled.

The fourth floor statue yielded no further clues, which led the tired group of students back down and to the dungeons. Harry and Ginny once more squeezed their bodies between the statue and the wall, in their all too familiar search for an inscription. On the back was the usual snake with the letter 'M' carved next to it.

"We're finally done," Ginny cheered, rubbing her knee caps to clear the dust and dirt off of them.

"No," Hermione replied. "We still have to figure out what this means."

Ron, Ginny, and Harry all leaned over to look at the word Hermione had spelled out on her parchment: APERIORIUM.

"Looks kind of like a spell," Harry muttered, "but not one I've ever heard of."

"Well, we'll find out, shall we?" Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed it at the wall opposite. "Aperiorium!" she said firmly, flicking her wand once.

Nothing, however, emerged from her wand tip. Instead, they were all startled by a scraping noise from behind them. Turning sharply back toward the statue, they were shocked to see it slowly disappearing into the floor, leaving a sharply down slanting tunnel in its place.

"It wasn't a spell," Harry breathed, "it was a password."

"But a password to what?" Ginny asked nervously. "I don't really feel like finding myself in another one of Slytherin's secret chambers."

Harry had pulled the Marauder's Map out of Hermione's grasp. Studying it closely, he replied, "well, it certainly isn't on the map. That means there is only one way to find out where it goes. Lumos."

Harry led the way into the dark tunnel, as the others lit their wands and followed him. The going was slow because the tunnel was so sharply sloped; one false move and Harry was afraid he would find himself sliding the rest of the way down. The stone walls on either side of the tunnel were close enough that Harry could touch both sides with his outstretched arms, and the ceiling didn't seem to be any taller than the tunnel was wide; they all had to stoop as they walked. Finally, after half an hour of walking and having lost site of the entrance, the tunnel seemed to level out. Harry stopped suddenly as his hand no longer felt stone. Lifting his head and his lighted wand tip, he saw the beginning of a large cavern. Moving ahead a bit to let the others exit the tunnel, Harry squinted into the darkness. He could see what looked like four massive stone tables set at equal distances around the perimeter of the chamber. He could also hear water dripping somewhere, as well as feel the damp moisture when he breathed.

"Where are we?" Ginny asked, also peering into the darkness.

"No idea," Ron replied.

Hermione, however, remained silent. She was slowly moving her lit wand along the walls, appearing to be looking for something. Finally, with an "ah ha" her light fell upon an ancient lantern hanging from the wall. "Incendio," she intoned, and the lantern flickered into life once more. Along with it, a dozen more magically lit around the room as well, allowing the students to see clearly where they were standing.

"Just as I thought," Hermione mused. "We have found the crypt of the four founders of Hogwarts."

As Harry took in what his eyes were seeing, he realized Hermione was right, as usual. The four stone tables he had seen with the light of his wand were really huge stone sarcophagi. The walls were covered in inscriptions and renditions of the house symbols and Hogwarts crest. The water was coming from the stalactites on the ceiling with a steady drip, landing in a large pool at the center of the stone tomb.

"So we should find the way to save Hogwarts here, should Hogwarts ever need saving?" Harry whispered, as though he were afraid of speaking too loudly out of reverence.

Hermione nodded. "We should start by searching the inscriptions on the walls, I suppose."

The four students spread out, each examining an area above each sarcophagus. However, all the inscriptions seemed to be ballads proclaiming the deeds and actions of each founder in life, and hopes for a happy afterlife.

Harry, after finding nothing helpful by Salazar Slytherin's sarcophagus, hung his head, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes tiredly, trying to think more clearly where they might find the long sought answer. He looked down at the stone sarcophagus that had been carved with the likeness of Salazar Slytherin, holding a shield with the Slytherin crest upon it. There were no inscriptions on the top, and the sides only contained more ballads devoted to Salazar.

"Don't tell me we've searched all this time for nothing!" Ron exclaimed, turning away from the sarcophagus of Rowena Ravenclaw.

Hermione was staring up at the ceiling, hoping to find an inscription there, while Ginny was pacing the floor of the room, looking for the promised solution to their quest.

"We haven't checked inside the sarcophagi," Harry said with a shudder. He was quite content to never meet Godric Gryffindor face to face.

"Are you mad?" Ron accused, turning pale at the thought of opening the sarcophagi of the founders. "Do you know what type of curses the ancient Egyptians used to put on their coffins? How do you know the founders didn't do the same, to insure no one interrupted their eternal resting places? I can just imagine Bill's reaction if I ever tell him that we just walked right into a crypt without checking for curses or hexes first."

"The founders wanted us to find this place," Hermione replied logically. "They wouldn't curse the place where they hid the answer to their riddle."

"I don't trust the original Slytherin any more than I trust modern Slytherins," Ron retorted, resolutely crossing his arms across his chest.

"Then you might want to leave," Harry responded, moving towards Slytherin's sarcophagus. "Let's just hope the answer is in here, since Slytherin left the school, he won't be buried here." He tried to lift the heavy stone lid, but as expected, it didn't even budge. "Come help me," he yelled back to the others.

Ginny simply laughed and shook her head. "Harry, it's so obvious that you were raised by Muggles, trying to lift the lid, honestly. Wingardium Leviosa!" Ginny's magic caused the stone lid to grate noisily against the bottom of the sarcophagus as it lifted clear. She gently guided the lid away from the sarcophagus and laid it on the floor with a soft thump.

Harry was the first to peer over the edge of the stone coffin. "There's a stone tablet in here, like the one we found in Gryffindor Tower. I think there is a spell carved on it."

Ginny, Ron, and Hermione rushed over to look at what appeared to be the solution to their puzzle.

"Amorgape," Hermione read. "I've never heard of it."

"So this spell is supposed to save Hogwarts?" Harry mused. "I wonder what it does."

"Let's try it," Ginny prodded. "Harry, try casting it at the wall."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hermione nagged. "I mean, if this is supposed to save Hogwarts, you would think it is a weapon of some sort, right? What if it blows a hole in the wall, or causes the chamber to collapse?"

The four students exchanged looks with each other.

"We need to find out what it does," Harry finally said. "The rest of you should get in the tunnel; I'll try the spell. That way if something does go wrong, you guys have a way to get out."

After a bit more bickering about the safety of performing a new spell in a closed space, Hermione finally gave in and backed into the tunnel with Ron and Ginny. They jostled and elbowed each other in the small space in attempts to see what happened when Harry used the spell.

Taking a deep breath, Harry griped his wand tightly and said clearly, "amorgape," while waving the wand in the movement that felt most natural with the spell. However, nothing seemed to happen except for a slight shimmer in the air in the chamber, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

Harry turned around and shrugged at the others. "Did I do it wrong?"

"Let me try," Hermione responded, pushing her way past Ron and back out into the chamber. However, her attempt at the spell produced the same result as Harry's attempt, as did Ron's and Ginny's attempts after.

"So we spent all this time looking for the solution to save Hogwarts, which was discovered by the original founders, yet we have nothing to show for it?" Harry asked bitterly.

No one answered him.

"Come on," Ron finally said. "Let's forget about this and go to the Quidditch match."

The four teenagers replaced the lid on Slytherin's sarcophagus and then started the long climb back up the tunnel. When they finally exited back into the dungeon corridor, the passage behind them slid closed automatically, effectively hiding the location of the tomb of the four founders from unknowing eyes. They started walking toward the entrance hall, in hopes of catching the end of the Quidditch match, but as they emerged the thundering footsteps and voices of hundreds of students announced that they had missed the match.

"Great, what a perfect ending to the day," Ginny complained.

"Hey Dean, who won?" Ron shouted, as he and Harry sprinted off to hear what happened during the match.

Ginny and Hermione followed behind, joining the streaming line of students who were making their way back to their common rooms. From the chatter, they were able to gather than Slytherin, unfortunately, had won a very dirty game. Malfoy had apparently knocked Cho off her broom when Madam Hooch wasn't looking. She had been saved from serious injury by luck; one of Ravenclaw's beaters had been chasing after a bludger below and caught her. All in all, not a good day; they'd missed the Quidditch match, Slytherin had won the game, making it worse, and their term long search for the solution to the Founders' riddle turned out to be a dud.

A/N: I hope that wasn't too confusing. There will be a few more chapters, out eventually. It might be two weeks before the next one is out. I'm still on summer break, so I don't feel the urge to write like I feel when I'm away at school.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Harry stared at the blurry tile overhead as he allowed the hot water to run over him. This is how Wood must have felt in his third year, he thought to himself. He wasn't sure how long he had been in the Quidditch showers, and he didn't really care. His mind just kept replaying the match over and over again. There were dozens of things he _could_ have done differently, not that it mattered now; they had lost: lost the final game of the season, letting Hufflepuff win the Quidditch Cup and putting them far ahead in the race for the House Cup.

Harry had to fight the temptation to punch the wall or rip out the shower head. It wasn't as if he has taken this game lightly. It had been the exact opposite. Ever since Katie had informed him that the Hufflepuff Seeker, Bogdon, had been trained by his Uncle, who flew for the Montrose Magpies, Harry had trained extra hard. Not that Katie's practices were easy in any respect. Maybe his heart hadn't really been in the game, he reasoned. He had been thinking about the Founders' riddle often; it hung heavily on him that their search had come to a fruitless end. Hermione, of course, was still searching the library for any hint of the spell they had discovered in the crypt, but Harry had since given up hope.

Still, he thought he had focused entirely on the game. But they still lost, which made no sense. Harry had never lost a game while he remained on his broom, it just didn't happen. His other losses could be attributed to bad luck. The fact that he had legitimately been out-flown and out-played hurt more than he imagined. Had he really become so over confident in his skills that he believed he couldn't lose? Maybe if he stayed in the showers long enough the air would become so saturated with water that he'd drown. At the moment it seemed preferable than hiking back to the Gryffindor common room and facing the people who had hailed him as a Quidditch hero on so many occasions. He had been the youngest Seeker in a century, after all; he wasn't supposed to be out-flown.

"Harry, why are you still in the shower?"

Ginny's voice jolted him out of his self-loathing. The curtains swayed and Harry panicked, "Ginny, I'm naked, you can't come in here."

He swore he heard snickering before Ginny responded calmly, "I live with six brothers, Harry, none of whom are particularly modest, it isn't like I haven't seen…"

"Don't you dare come in here," Harry interrupted, turning off the water and sprinting for the towel that was hanging on the other side of the large stall. Keeping with the mood of the day, he slipped on the wet tile and fell very hard and very painfully on his bare backside.

"Are you ok? Do you need me to come help you?"

"I'm fine," Harry squeaked as pain shot through his tail bone.

"I could always go get Madam Pomfrey…"

Harry felt his face go very red at the thought. "No!" he shouted quickly, attempting to scramble to his feet. He fell back down and attempted to cover as much of himself as possible as Ginny ripped back the curtain with a harrumphing "for goodness sake." Her left hand was covering both her eyes and with her other hand she waved her wand in the general direction of the towel and levitated it over to Harry, who hurriedly snatched it from the air. She turned and left Harry to dry off in peace. He finally emerged with the towel wrapped around his waist to find Ginny sitting on the nearest bench, waiting for him.

"You better not have peeked," he warned as he headed for his locker, all to aware that he was in an empty locker room, wearing nothing but a towel, while his attractive girlfriend sat a short distance away.

"And what if I did?" she teased suggestively.

Harry gulped as he hurriedly pulled on his pants. "I, umm, that is…"

Ginny laughed and slinked around the side of the locker banks causing Harry's fingers to fumble on the last button on his trousers.

"You need to forget about the match," she said before pushing him against his locker and roughly kissing him.

Suddenly the match, or anything else for that matter, was the farthest thing from Harry's mind. His senses were overloaded by Ginny: the sweet, flowery smell of her shampoo, the feel of her still damp hair against his fingers, her soft hands pressing against his bare chest and back.

Harry's brain finally kicked back into a functional mode when a loud voice called "Ginny, haven't you found Harry yet." Looking up, Harry saw Ron walk around the side of the lockers and instantly freeze, his eyes wide. "What the bloody hell are you two doing?"

It was only then that Harry realized he and Ginny must appear to Ron to be in a very compromising position. Somehow, they had moved from the locker to the bench, and with his shirt still off and Ginny pinned under him, Ron probably thought he had good reason to be cursing.

Harry heard Ginny mumbled something that sounded very much like "damn him," before she sat up, and unabashedly replied, "it's called snogging, Ron, you should try it sometime."

Harry couldn't bring himself to meet Ron's eyes as he threw on his shirt, heaved his Quidditch uniform into the laundry, and hoisted his broom onto his shoulder.

* * *

"Peppermint Imp," Harry intoned, causing the stone gargoyle to jump out of the way. He was visiting Dumbledore's office for his last meeting of the term. The lost Quidditch match had already been forgotten as students prepared for their end of term exams, and Harry had soon realized he had been the only Gryffindor who blamed him for the loss. Everything had returned to normal once Ron had cooled down about the locker room episode and began speaking to both Harry and Ginny again. 

"Good evening, Harry," Dumbledore greeted without looking up from his desk. "I suppose you would like me to ok your final exam plans before we commence with your final occlumency lesson."

"Yes, sir," Harry replied, taking his usual squashy seat in front of the desk. Fawkes, as always, alighted on his knee and seemed to take great delight in the few moments Harry spent stroking his fiery feathers. Once the Phoenix had returned to his perch, Harry handed his detailed lesson plans over to Dumbledore. "I'm planning practical exams, like Professor Lupin gave in my third year. I'm going to need to dig up a few boggarts, a hinkypunk, and a grindylow, but Hagrid said he'd give me a hand with those."

Dumbledore read over Harry's plans, his eyes slightly magnified behind his half moon spectacles. "Very impressive, Harry. I have always been partial to practical exams myself. They show the students know both theory and execution, which is very important, especially when concerning the Dark Arts."

"Thank you, sir."

After their Occlumency lesson, in which Harry finally felt confident that Voldemort wouldn't be able to manipulate or steal any information from his mind, Harry sat back to hear the latest news on the war. He helped himself to a lemon drop as Dumbledore filled him in on what had happened during the last Order meeting.

"Voldemort has been surprisingly quiet over the last few weeks," Dumbledore explained. "In an open war, that is never a good sign. Professor Snape suspects that Voldemort is planning a large attack, but he doesn't know when or where. It seems that Voldemort is getting more and more selective about whom he gives detailed information to. He's begun to suspect that there is a spy in his midst, so no Death Eater will ever know all the information until right before the attack."

"So where do you think he's going to attack, sir?"

"I can only speculate, Harry. There are many targets: Azkaban, Gringotts, Diagon Alley, the Ministry, St. Mungo's, even Hogwarts isn't out of the question."

"He wouldn't attack Hogwarts, would he? We're surrounded by Aurors and enchantments preventing anyone who isn't a student or teacher from using magic."

"Never assume anything Harry. Voldemort isn't stupid; he won't attack unless he feels he has a strong chance of winning, or at least doing a substantial amount of damage without losing too many allies. Just like his attack on Hogsmeade."

Harry made his way back to the Gryffindor common room, wondering what exactly Voldemort was planning. In the following days, though, his final exams took precedence in his thoughts. There were endless essays to write and reviewing to be done, as well as his obstacle courses to set up. After three days of searching old cabinets and desks he finally procured three Boggarts to test his students with.

Once exams were over, Hogwarts students flocked out on the grounds in order to enjoy the increasingly nice weather. Tonks joined Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione down by the lake one afternoon, after having been relieved from her Auror duties.

"Still no leads on what Voldemort is planning?" Harry prodded.

Tonks shook her head as she sent a stone skimming out across the lake. "There hasn't been a peep out of him. No attacks anywhere…he's waiting for something, I just wish I knew what."

"You don't think he'd attack the Hogwarts Express, do you?" Hermione asked, slightly nervously.

"If he tries he'll find he has quite a fight," Tonks replied. "There will be at least a dozen Aurors guarding it from the air, and six more on the train. It's also covered in anti-apparition spells, so I'd like to see them try."

Despite Tonks's reassurance, Harry still couldn't shake the feeling that Voldemort's attack was imminent. As he sat in the Gryffindor common room that night, he mused over the possible ways Voldemort could get at Hogwarts or the train.

"Relax, Harry," said Ron. "You-Know-Who knows he can't get into Hogwarts. He'd have a better chance at Gringotts."

"Yeah, it isn't like he kidnapped Fred and George and forced them to reveal all the secret passages they were always bragging about knowing," Ginny quipped, causing Hermione and Ron to laugh.

But Harry was suddenly struck with an idea. "I think I know how he's going to do it," Harry gushed. "I'll be right back." He sprinted for the staircase, sending three second- year students scattering. A few seconds later he came barreling back down with the Marauders Map clamped in his hand. Slapping it down on the table, he hurriedly smacked it with his wand, whispering, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

As the ink materialized he began pointing out the secret passages in and out of the castle. "Peter knows about all these passages, he helped make the map. He can tell Voldemort where they are and the Death Eaters would be able to sneak in."

"But Harry," replied Hermione, "Dumbledore knows about them too, because Professor Lupin knows about them. I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't have allowed the passages to go unguarded."

Harry calmed down a bit as Hermione's cool logic sunk in. She was right, as usual. The Aurors who guarded the grounds, halls, and Hogsmeade had, no doubt, been informed of the passages. He had just folded the map back up and put it in his pocket when a fourth year student came running into the common room.

"There's smoke in Hogsmeade…they're under attack again!"

Instantly, all the students jumped up and ran for the portrait hole, clambering in order to get out into the castle and find windows facing Hogsmeade. Harry and Ginny followed closely behind Ron and Hermione, who were using their prefect status to cut to the front of the line. They ran down the corridors, skidding to a stop at the nearest set of windows that looked out towards Hogsmeade. Huge billows of smoke were wafting up from the town, and Harry could hear distant bangs and screams on the wind. Aurors were running from the Hogwarts gates and grounds, Disapparating into the town as soon as they were past Hogwarts's magical barrier while others raced on broom sticks.

"It's a diversion," Harry breathed.

"What?" demanded Ron.

"It's a diversion," Harry said louder. "The attack on Hogsmead is meant to draw away Aurors and professors, so they can attack Hogwarts."

"Harry, that's not possible. The Death Eaters can't use magic in the castle."

"Then they found a way around that, Hermione. We need to get the Aurors back here and contact the Order."

"Harry, you're scaring the first years," Ginny interrupted.

Harry looked up at the crowd of Gryffindors that had gathered at the windows. "Everyone back to the common room," he bellowed. "You'll be safe there."

The first and second years immediately started running for the portrait of the Fat Lady, followed by several third and fourth years. The rest, however, didn't move.

"Didn't you hear me," Harry yelled again, becoming angry. "The Death Eaters mean to attack Hogwarts directly."

"And we mean to help," Neville replied, stepping forward. A chorus of agreement sounded behind him.

"No," replied Harry. "This isn't some classroom exercise, the Death Eaters will be using real curses, unforgivables."

"Is that all your classes were, then?" Neville demanded, taking several steps closer to Harry. "I thought you were trying to prepare us for the war."

"Not for the war now," Harry responded desperately. "I meant for when you leave Hogwarts."

"I leave Hogwarts in two days," said Katie Bell. "I don't think two days will make much of a difference."

"Our blood won't be on your hands if we die," Dean continued. "We choose to stay and fight."

Harry sighed in frustration. "Fine, but only fifth years and over."

The third and fourth years started to yell. Neville let out a surprisingly high pitched whistle and they quieted down. "I need someone to protect the youngest students," Harry continued. "I want you to guard the common room. Teach the first and second years hexes and defense spells." Still grumbling, the students accepted Harry's orders and retreated to the common room.

"Now what, Harry?" asked Ginny.

"We need to get help. Who here can Apparate?"

Most of the seventh years raised their hands. "Katie, I need you to get out of Hogwarts and Apparate to the Ministry. Tell them what is happening, and raise hell until they do something about it."

Katie nodded solemnly and started moving toward the staircase.

"Wait," Harry called. He was looking out the window. He could see a mass of dark shapes marching towards Hogwarts from Hogsmead. "You'll never make it on foot, Accio invisibility cloak and Firebolt!"

It took a minute, but finally his cloak and broomstick came hurtling toward him. "Here," he said, thrusting them at Katie. "Use these."

She looked at him incredulously. "You have an invisibility cloak and you're giving it to me at a time like this?"

"I'm not going to use it. Not unless it could cover all of us. I fight in the open," Harry responded. "Now go."

Katie jumped onto the window ledge and pushed open the glass. She mounted the broom and threw the cloak around her and was gone from sight.

"You," he pointed to another seventh year boy. "Find Professor McGonagall and tell her that Harry says the Death Eaters are moving to attack Hogwarts, contact the Order." He looked at Harry with a confused expression. "It doesn't matter if you know what it means, she will. If you can't find McGonagall find Flitwick, if you can't find him, Snape." The boy sprinted off in the direction of McGonagall's office.

Harry immediately pulled out the Marauder's Map and opened it. It was impossible to know what passages the Death Eaters might use. "We're going to have to guard all the passages except for these two, since they are caved in, and the one under the Whomping Willow. We'll also need to guard the front entrance." He looked around. Once divided, it left them only about five students at each passage and the entrance.

"What about getting students from other houses?" Ginny asked, seemingly reading Harry's mind.

Harry hated drawing anyone else into a battle. He shook his head. "This lot volunteered, but I don't want to ask other students to do the same."

"Then what if we didn't guard the passages?" Hermione responded. "What if we destroyed them instead? Cave them in with spells so the Death Eaters can only come in one way?"

"You're brilliant, Hermione," shouted Harry, rolling the map up again.

He began leading the group toward the main corridor, from which they would split up and destroy the passages. However, it was already clogged with students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, who were crowding the windows that faced Hogsmead.

"Harry, do you know what is going on?" asked Luna, running over to the group.

"The Death Eaters are attacking Hogsmead as a distraction. They are going to try and attack Hogwarts directly." He pointed out the window at the dark mass that was growing closer. Spells illuminated the darkening sky, showing masked figures.

"We're going to fight, then," Luna replied, pulling her wand out from behind her ear.

"Any fifth year or above who wants to," Harry replied. "I left the Gryffindor third and fourth years to guard the younger students in the common rooms."

Luna turned around, and in a commanding voice yelled, "you heard him. Fourth years and below back to the common room, anyone else who wants to fight stay here."

As the students dispersed, Harry found his army had grown considerably. This wasn't turning out the way he had wanted. He was about to order everyone to move out to destroy the passages when there was a shout from down the hall.

"Potter!"

Harry turned to see a small group of Slytherin's walking toward them. He recognized the tall, dark boy at the front: Blaise Zambini.

"What do you want, Zambini?" Ron hissed, taking several steps forward with his wand out.

"Potter, call off your guard dog," Zambini replied. He kept his wand lowered. "We're here to help."

"If we needed your help we'd just shoot ourselves in the back," Ron replied.

"I wasn't speaking to you, Weasley," returned Zambini.

"What sort of help are you offering?" Harry asked cautiously.

"The sort that will keep this castle from falling to You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters," Zambini replied.

"And why would you want to help us with that?" Ginny interrupted.

"Do not assume that simply because we are Slytherins that we follow the Dark Lord. I do not hide my contempt for Muggle-Borns, but I do not agree with You-Know-Who's politics. So do you want our help or not?"

"I'll take as much help as I can get," Harry replied. "But I warn you now, if any of you raise a wand toward another student here…"

"You have my word, Potter, that we intend to fight only Death Eaters." He stretched his hand to Harry. "If we shake, that's a magically binding contract, Potter."

Harry reached his hand out to take Zambini's. "I accept your help then." Once they shook, Harry withdrew his hand quickly. "How did you know I was going to fight?"

"It's you, isn't it?" Zambini replied smoothly. "You're always there, somehow. We knew there would be an attack, because Malfoy warned everyone to stay in the common room and out of the way."

Harry was suddenly struck with another revelation. "That's how the Death Eaters will be able to use magic." He turned to Hermione and Ron. "Do you remember the first day back, Malfoy gave the Aurors all that lip until they explained what spell it was, the sneaky little ferret. He's spent the whole year figuring out how the Death Eaters can get around the defense spells." Harry turned back to Zambini. "Did he say what exactly is planned?" Harry asked, unable to hide his excitement at possibly gaining the information.

Zambini shook his head. "He's promised that once the Dark Lord has control of the castle the Slytherins will be top dogs. It's disgusting, the way he prances around our common room like he owns it. And why? Because the little coward has become a spy, not that he had a choice; the Dark Lord would have killed him if he'd said no. That's all we know. So enough talk, Potter, here's your one chance to tell us what to do and we'll obey."

Harry spelled out the plan quickly and the groups dispersed in all directions, promising to meet up in the entrance hall once they had completed their missions at the passage ways.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get up. Hopefully the jumps in time weren't too confusing. Don't forget to leave me a review telling me what you thought. Final two chapters in a few weeks. 


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: I've had this chapter written for a while, but I kept forgetting to post it. Sorry. Also, I've had this entire story outlined since I started it before HBP, thus this chapter is the original ending, and I tried not to allow HBP to affect my writing.

A quick recap of the end of last chapter: The Death Eaters attack Hogsmead but Harry sees it as a diversion. He gathers a group of students together and they disperse through the castle, to either guard the entrance or destroy secret passages. That is where this chapter begins.

* * *

Chapter 26

Harry, followed closely by Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna, arrived at the statue of the one-humped crone. Harry tapped the stone with his wand and was rewarded by the gruff scraping of the passage opening. He was startled to hear muffled voices echoing toward them.

"They're almost here," Harry whispered.

"We're here already, Harry," a voice answered, causing Harry to jump as a spell whizzed past his head.

"Stupefy!" shouted Harry, pointing his wand down the hole. He heard nothing for a few seconds, so he carefully peeked into the opening. He could see nothing. Suddenly a familiar rat scurried past him and out into the corridor.

"Get it!" Harry shouted, aiming a spell at the rodent, but missing as Peter dashed behind a suit of armor.

Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Hermione shot off spells as well, but the rat dodged them all and scampered down another corridor. Harry made to run after him, but Hermione stopped him.

"Harry, don't you see. He wants you to follow him and ignore the rest of the Death Eaters who are behind. Let's destroy the statue now!"

Harry's rage was ebbed slightly. "Ok," he seethed, channeling the rage and yelling "Reducto." The statue of the old crone exploded, filling the entrance to the passage with debris.

"Will that stop them?" Neville asked nervously. "Couldn't they just banish the stone or blow it back into the corridor?"

"It will slow them up, either way," Harry responded. "I want the rest of you to get to the entrance hall."

"Harry," Hermione began, but Ginny grabbed her arm and silenced her.

"You'll find us once you've dealt with Peter?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded, pulling out his map and scanning the castle for a tiny dot labeled Peter Pettigrew. As soon as he located it, he sped off in that direction.

Harry slowed to a walk as he entered the dungeons. His brain was working on overdrive. He couldn't believe he hadn't put the pieces together sooner. He'd heard Malfoy talking about an attack when he was hiding in the Slytherin common room, how his information had been helpful, and an informant that could get him in. Harry wanted to hit himself over the head with a blunt object repeatedly; how could he have been so oblivious.

As Harry went further into the dungeons, he saw that an intriguing situation was playing out on the map; Peter had come to rest in the office of Severus Snape. The door had been left slightly ajar, and no one had bothered to cast an anti-eavesdropping charm. Harry crouched silently, listening as the two men bickered.

"…it'll never work," said Snape. "I should have been informed of this plan earlier…"

"So you could have warned Dumbledore?" Peter accused in a squeaky voice. "The Dark Lord wonders why you were so convinced you could not find the spells being used to protect his castle, when a sixteen-year-old boy could."

"As I've already explained to the Dark Lord, it would have looked far too suspicious for me to have been poking around in that department. The Dark Lord knows I am loyal…"

"Are you so sure?" Peter interrupted. "He wonders why you haven't brought him the boy yet."

"Dumbledore neverlets the boy out of his sight. Besides, I'd never get him past the Aurors; half of them suspect me already. The Dark Lord has been told this. If I were him, I'd be more worried about the follower that turned on his friends once before."

"I am totally loyal to the Dark Lord," Peter hissed back.

"You have nowhere to go and you fear him to much to leave his service, that is the only thing that keeps you loyal," Snape returned. "Now what have you come here for? Shouldn't you be above, murdering teachers?"

"The Dark Lord sent me to find you. To inform you that tonight you must prove where your loyalties lie. You will either fight for the Dark Lord or you will die."

"Such brave words from a rat," Snape sneered. "But if that is truly what the Dark Lord wishes, then he will see my loyalty tonight."

The door squeaked open, and Harry jumped back, pointing his wand toward the office. As soon as Peter stepped outside the door, Harry shouted "stupefy!" and watched as Peter fell to the ground with a satisfying thud. He immediately turned his wand on Snape, but not soon enough.

"Expelliarmus" hissed Snape, flicking his wand at Harry. Harry was knocked back several feet and his wand landed at Snape's feet. Hoping to use wandless magic, Harry reached his had toward his wand and called "Accio," but his wand didn't move.

Snape scooped up the wand and in one shocking movement, offered it back to Harry with the stipulation, "If you try to hex me again, Potter, I will do far more than disarm you."

Harry growled as he took the wand back, "whose side are you on?"

"The one that serves my best interests at the time," responded Snape, who looked back at Pettigrew with disgust. "Now get out of here, Potter."

Harry, for once, didn't argue with Snape. If Dumbledore trusted him… well, that must count for something. Harry ran back toward the entrance hall. He could hear the sounds of a fight several corridors away; the Death Eaters had already broken through the front doors.

As Harry skidded into the entrance hall, he saw several teachers and students locked in open combat with hooded Death Eaters, while the other students were sheltering behind stairs or suits of armor, taking shots at the enemy whenever they could. The Death Eaters had turned what was left of the Hogwarts doors into a huge shield. Harry shot a quick 'reducto' curse at it as he dashed down the staircase, skidding to a halt next to Ginny.

"Where's Dumbledore?" he shouted, not seeing the headmaster anywhere.

"I haven't seen him," Ginny returned as they were forced to jump in different directions to avoid a bright red curse.

Harry was trying to avoid looking at the prone figures that already littered the entrance way. Looking to his left, he saw Blaise Zambini fire a particularly nasty hex at a Death Eater who had charged from behind the shield. The man fell and ripped off his hood, revealing blood oozing from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. There appeared to be an advantage to having Slytherins on their side.

Harry stunned another Death Eater, who had been dueling with Ron. Ron limped toward Harry, blood dripping from his right leg.

Professor McGonagall, moving faster than Harry would have expected for her age, turned away from the fight and shot several spells at the suits of armor that lined the entranceway. Instantly, with a loud clash, the suits sprang to life and began marching toward the death eaters. Spells zinged off their armor, ricocheting into their casters.

There was an explosion behind the Death Eaters and Harry saw members of the Order of the Phoenix stream into the room, shooting hexes and curses as they came. Following behind them were the Aurors who had returned from Hogsmead. Just as Harry thought they were overpowering the Death Eaters, a spell whizzed by his head from behind, clipping his right ear. Spinning, Harry saw a fresh group of Death Eaters, covered in fine dust and rubble, spewing from one of the hallways.

Shouting a warning to the others, Harry started firing the first jinxes and hexes he thought of as he ran to take cover. He saw a spell hit Ginny in her left arm, causing her to reel backwards and instinctively grab for the injury. Harry tackled her as another spell whizzed over their heads.

"You ok?" he mumbled as he pulled her into the alcove between the stairs and the Great Hall.

Gritting her teeth, she nodded, and pulled away her now bloody hand to grab her wand and continue fighting. Harry again wondered where Dumbledore was. He knew the students wouldn't be able to hold their own against the Death Eaters for much longer, and the teachers, Aurors, and Order members were outnumbered. It would only be a matter of time before the Death Eaters who had found themselves facing dead end passage ways either dug themselves out or came back around and through the front doors.

Harry had just stunned another Death Eater when he heard a loud explosion from outside, causing just about everyone's heads to turn toward the entrance. Voldemort and Dumbledore danced into view, sending spells at each other in wordless combat. Dumbledore seemed to be trying very hard to keep the battle outside, but Voldemort was steering it toward the school. Harry pried his eyes away from Dumbledore and Voldemort and sent a curse at the nearest Death Eater. His action suddenly brought everyone else back to their senses, and the battle began to rage again, this time around Voldemort and Dumbledore.

Harry shot two quick spells at the Death Eaters dueling with Luna and Neville before spinning, only to find himself facing another Death Eater, whose wand was already being swept down, summoning an unavoidable curse. Harry jumped to the side, knowing that he was still going to be too slow, when the Death Eater suddenly keeled over. Looking to his right, he saw Dumbledore's wand moving back to attack Voldemort. The old headmaster looked even older than Harry remembered as those precious seconds saving Harry sealed his fate. A green light flew out of Voldemort's wand; Harry didn't even have to hear the words to know what it was. The whooshing of a life being stolen away was all too familiar to Harry. As Dumbledore's body crumpled to the ground, a shocked silence fell over the room. Every single person had stopped and looked at the scene playing out before him. The silence was broken as Voldemort let out a mad cackle and Harry screamed "No!"

Rage and hatred pulsed through Harry's veins. He couldn't lose Dumbledore; the man wasn't just his mentor, he loved him like a grandfather. Harry swiveled his wand at Voldemort, and shouted the first spell that came to his mind, "Amorgape!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Harry felt like a fool. He had uttered a useless spell, and would likely soon find himself facing down Voldemort's wand. However, the spell seemed to be echoing in the room. Except it wasn't an echo, Harry soon realized, it was a chorus of other people yelling the same spell. Ginny had shouted it, as did Ron and Hermione. All their wands remained pointing at Voldemort. A glimmer filled the room, but much stronger than their trial in the founder's crypt. It pulsed and Voldemort seemed to fear it, he shrunk back as it enveloped the room. Other students began to yell the spell. Harry distinctly heard Neville and Luna, followed by Dean. An injured Hufflepuff near Harry rose to his knees and shouted "Amorgape." Blaise Zambini stood up defiantly, his Slytherin robes torn and bloodied, and chorused the words as well. As more and more people began to call out the spell, the louder the glimmer got and Harry could see fear emanating from Voldemort's face. Finally, there was a flash, and the shimmer condensed into a ball of blinding light that settled on Voldemort, who began screaming. Harry could see him clawing at his skin, like the light burned him. He was walking backwards, back onto Hogwarts grounds. The ball of light stayed centered, but continued to grow, pushing Voldemort away from Hogwarts and seemingly keeping him from uttering a spell. The Death Eaters who remained began running from the entrance hall. Harry took a tentative step back as the light grew large enough to encompass him. But instead of pain, Harry felt great warmth, like the feeling he got from Phoenix Song. Throwing his head back, he let the feeling wash over him. The light filled the whole hall, and suddenly, with a loud bang, was gone. Harry turned to look at the grounds, and saw that Voldemort and his Death Eaters had disappeared, along with the warm feeling the light had brought.

Harry trudged toward the fallen headmaster. His legs felt like lead; whatever the Amorgape spell had done, it had drained a lot of energy. He knelt next to Dumbledore's body, knowing there was no hope that his mentor had survived. Lifeless eyes stared back at Harry, from behind shattered half-moon spectacles. Reverently, Harry reached down and closed Dumbledore's eyes, giving him a more peaceful expression. Once more it struck Harry how very old Dumbledore looked, older than Harry had remembered.

A drop of water hit Harry's hand, and he looked up to see Hermione standing just behind him, tears streaming down her face. Her hair was knotted with dried blood, and her left eye was swollen and bruised.

"There are still Death Eaters in the tunnels," Harry choked, forcing the words through a constricted throat. He couldn't bring himself to move.

Hermione moved away, and Harry saw several Aurors and Order members run out of the entrance hall. Madam Pomfrey was moving through the carnage, treating the worst injured students and teachers. She had already conjured several sheets to cover those who had been killed. Harry felt her put on hand on his shoulder.

"There's nothing you can do, Potter," she said quietly, waving her wand. A white sheet fluttered over Dumbledore's body, leaving a featureless lump. "Go wait with the others until I can take a good look at your ear."

Harry moved a heavy hand up to his right ear, only then noticing that the curse that had grazed him had taken a chunk out of his ear. He didn't really care though; he didn't even ask if Madam Pomfrey could fix it. Dumbledore was dead, not much else mattered.

"Come on, Harry," Ginny said softly from beside him. He followed her obediently into the Great Hall, where injured students were waiting quietly to be seen by Madam Pomfrey. A few lay on the tables, while others slumped against the walls or on the benches. He joined Hermione and Ron, who were resting against the far wall, nursing their injuries. No one said anything, which didn't bother Harry. He just put his head in his hands and stared at the floor

He wasn't sure how long he had been wallowing in his misery when Ron finally broke the silence. "Hermione, that spell…"

"I don't know Ron," she replied and Harry felt three pair of eyes swivel to him,

"I don't know either," he mumbled. "I just know that it wiped me out."

The floor vibrated softly as many people entered the Great Hall. Harry looked up to see a group of Healers, wearing St. Mungo's emblem on their robes, enter the hall. Immediately the group dispersed as Healers descended upon the groups of students that were huddled against walls or around tables. Harry saw a pair of feet wearing clean white trainers stop in front of him, and looking up, he recognized Cornelia, the apprentice healer who had taken care of him after the Hogsmeade attack.

"Come on, Harry, let's fix that ear," she said softly.

But Harry didn't move. "Heal the others first."

"Your wound is the most severe, Harry," she responded.

Harry relented and shakily got to his feet. Cornelia grasped him firmly under the elbow to steady him. One of the Healers had banished the house tables to the edges of the room, filling the empty space that was left with rows and rows of conjured hospital cots. Cornelia escorted him over to one and eased him into it. As she hovered around the right side of his head, prodding his ear with her wand, Harry watched another Healer stirring a gigantic cauldron of boiling liquid. He was too tired and distraught to even wonder what was in it.

A sharp stinging on his ear brought him back to the present. Cornelia was busy dabbing an acrid smelling substance on his ear, which burned like mad. When she finally finished, she held up a small mirror for Harry.

"I'm afraid we can't grow back cartilage," she told him apologetically. "But there are glamour charms you can use to hide it."

Harry looked in the mirror apprehensively. She was making it sound like he was deformed now or something. Harry could clearly see where the curse had hit him. The tip of his ear had been severed, leaving a flat plane instead of the normal rounded edge. The wound was covered with the black paste that stung badly, and all the blood had been cleaned from his ear, hair, and neck. If he just grew his hair a bit longer, it would cover the damage entirely.

He put the mirror down and put his head back on the pillow. He felt completely exhausted, but every time he closed his eyes he saw the flash of green light hitting Dumbledore. Cornelia had herded Ginny, Ron, and Hermione into the cots next to him, so he kept his mind occupied watching them being healed. After the laceration on Ginny's arm had been magically stitched up, and Cornelia had moved on to Ron, Ginny turned to Harry. She reached across the gap that separated them and took his hands in hers. He met her eyes briefly, but had to turn away when the tears in hers created tears in his.

When Harry turned his eyes away from hers, Ginny got up and walked to his cot. She sat down on the edge, and then forced her way onto the small space, so they were lying on their sides, facing each other. Neither said a word; Ginny simply wrapped her arms around Harry and cried into his chest. Harry, in turn, pulled her close to him and under the pretense of comforting her, let his face fall into her soft hair and cried as well. All around them, students wept.

Long after their tear ducts had run dry, Harry and Ginny laid together, consoling each other's grief with their company. Cornelia eventually forced Ginny to move back to her own cot, leaving Harry feeling cold where Ginny's warm body had been. The Healers were passing out goblets of Dreamless Draught so the students could sleep peacefully and regain their strength. Harry accepted his dose without argument, eager to stop reliving Dumbledore's death.

* * *

A/N: One more chapter to go! I hope you like this one, and didn't find it too confusing. I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends, but I probably missed a few. Don't forget to leave a review. 


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

When Harry woke, he felt like he had just emerged from a coma rather than a single night's sleep. He didn't feel rested at all. As soon as he opened his eyes, all the memories of the night before came pouring back to him. It was as if someone was stabbing him repeatedly. He immediately wished he hadn't woken up at all.

Cornelia bustled over to him and immediately checked his ear. She dabbed some more of her stinging black liquid on the wound, making Harry feel even worse. Then she summoned a tray of breakfast, but Harry had no interest in food. The mere thought made him nauseous. He looked over at his friends. Ginny was pushing her breakfast around her plate in an attempt to make it look like she had at least tried eating it. Her eyes were red and puffy from the night before and she moved her injured arm gingerly. Ron had managed to eat a whole piece of toast, but had pushed the rest aside. He was laying down again, his arms crossed over his eyes. Hermione's tray was also nearly untouched, but she had forgone it for the newest edition of the Daily Prophet. Normally Harry would have asked what the news had to say, but today he had no interest. It would simply list the names of the people killed; Dumbledore's name was likely to be the first one listed.

Harry nearly retched at the thought. Not only was he the reason Dumbledore had been distracted and killed, but he had led the students into battle; it didn't matter if they had come voluntarily, he still felt the guilt for their deaths. He would be responsible for every death until he hunted Voldemort down and killed him; or was killed in the attempt. His mind wandered to the Amorgape spell. Why had it affected Voldemort so? And why hadn't it had that reaction when they tested it in the crypt? In the past, all he had to do was ask Dumbledore and all his questions were answered. Now, however, Harry doubted he would ever understand what had happened.

Most of the students were allowed to return to their common rooms that afternoon. The younger students already knew what had happened. The common room was eerily quiet when Harry entered with the other returning Gryffindors. They had lost three of their own, and Harry knew that it was only through pure luck that it hadn't been any from his year. The usually bright common room had been shrouded in black, in honor of both the fallen students and Dumbledore. Ravenclaw had lost two students, Hufflepuff three, and Slytherin two. Harry wondered vaguely what was happening in the Slytherin Common room. Blaise and the other Slytherins that had joined Harry surely didn't expect a warm welcome, but Harry worried that there would be intra-house violence.

Dumbledore's funeral was the next day. Security was again tight, but somehow Harry knew Voldemort and the Death Eaters wouldn't try anything; not after the effects of the Amorgape spell. Everyone was wearing their best school robes, with one alteration; their house crests had been changed to Hogwarts crests, and they had all been provided with special ties in Hogwarts colors to represent house unity.

Professor McGonagall led the Gryffindors out of Gryffindor Tower and down into the dungeons. She opened a door Harry had never noticed and led them down a long stone stairway. The stairway opened into a massive underground chamber, filled with chairs and people. Harry immediately noticed a knot of redheads. Mrs. Weasley bustled over to them, dabbing her eyes with an overused handkerchief. She grabbed Ron and Ginny at the same time, pulling them into a tight hug. Then she insisted on crushing Hermione and Harry as well. The entire Weasley family was there, including a very uncomfortable looking Percy. Harry had never seen the twins look so sober.

Almost the entire Order of the Phoenix had turned out for the funeral. In addition, many other members of the wizarding community had also come out. Harry saw Neville helping his grandmother into a chair near the front. Oliver Wood, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson were standing with Katie Bell, talking in hushed tones. Harry recognized many other former students, and even more that he didn't know. Amelia Bones, newly elected Minister of Magic, was standing with her niece, Susan, and several other ministry officials. Madam Maxime was leaning against Hagrid, who looked like he would burst into tears at any moment. Despite all the people, Harry noticed that the only Slytherins who were in attendance were those who had fought against the Death Eaters.

Harry and Hermione, along with all the Weasleys, joined the quay that would take them past Dumbledore's casket. Harry realized, as the line slowly moved forward, that there were other graves in the room. Between the huge pillars that held up the ceiling, stone sarcophagi had been set. After reading the inscriptions on several, Harry realized that this was the burial place for all the headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts.

When Harry finally got close enough to see Dumbledore' body, he almost tricked himself into thinking that headmaster was only sleeping. The headmaster looked so much more peaceful than he had when Harry had last knelt over his body. His long silver hair and beard had been combed out and he had been dressed in his finest robes. His glasses had been repaired. His right arm had been arranged so that it lay over his chest, clasping his wand. His left arm rested stiffly at his side.

Harry felt hot tears spring to his eyes once more. The line behind him was pushing him along. "You won't have died in vain," he whispered, his voice cracking. "I promise I will defeat Voldemort."

When everyone had taken their seats facing Dumbledore's casket the funeral began. Harry listened quietly as speakers told of Dumbledore's triumphs: his defeat of Grindelwald, his alchemy work, his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, his promotion to Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and the many awards he had received.

Harry, though, thought they had left out some rather important details, like his pride for being on a Chocolate Frog Card, his love of Lemon Drops, and his undying love for Hogwarts and its students.

The funeral ended with Dumbledore's internment into a stone sarcophagus bearing his granite likeness.

Harry moved through the throng of people leaving the crypt, trying not to think about anything. He really didn't want to go back to the Gryffindor common room and pack for the train home tomorrow. He certainly didn't want to think about having to return to the Dursley's for another summer. "I'm going to take a walk," he told Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.

"Do you want any company?" Ginny asked, touching his arm.

Harry shook his head. "I just need to be alone for a little while. I won't be gone long."

Ginny gave him a small, reassuring smile. "I'll be there when you get back." She pushed herself up on her toes to give him a soft kiss.

Harry walked away from the crowd, knowing he would get through this because of his friends. He strolled aimlessly through the castle, not really paying attention to where he was going. He found a pebble on the flagstone floor and whittled away his time by kicking it ahead of him. He was, therefore, fairly surprised when he heard the loud sound of stone grating against stone instead of the tinkle of the skipping pebble. Looking up, he found that he was outside Dumbledore's office. The stone gargoyle had leapt aside, and Harry wondered who was leaving the office. However, after a few minutes, no one appeared. Harry moved closer and looked up the motionless spiral staircase. He could see no one. Cautiously, he stepped onto the first stair and felt the familiar sensation as it began to ascend.

He stepped off at the top, hesitating at the closed door. He knocked lightly, but heard no response, so he pushed the door open slowly. Entering the office of the dead Headmaster was strange. The office looked exactly as it had the last time Harry had seen it, except that now there was a portrait of Dumbledore hanging next to the other Headmasters and Headmistresses.

"Hello, Harry."

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Dumbledore's voice. The voice had not come from the portrait. Spinning, he saw the Headmaster enter the office from a small side room. Harry stumbled backward, his knees having gone weak. Luckily he landed in a squashy chair in front of the desk. _I've gone in mad with grief!_

"You're not crazy, Harry," Dumbledore said with a soft smile. The candlelight glimmered in his half-moon glasses. He seemed solid, not like a ghost.

"Sir, you're dead," Harry stammered. A strange thought crossed his mind. Anyone could have plucked a bit of Dumbledore's hair at the funeral and put it into a Polyjuice potion; but what advantage was there is imitating a man everyone knew to be dead. Still, there could be no other option. "You can't be the real Dumbledore." Harry reached for his wand.

"I'm glad your first reaction is suspicion, Harry," Dumbledore replied. "But I'm afraid you are wrong this time. I can prove I am your headmaster." Dumbledore then proceeded to repeat Harry's prophecy in its entirety.

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "Sir, I don't understand."

"I must admit, this is strange for me as well, Harry." Dumbledore moved behind his desk and sat down. A baby Fawkes squawked from his perch and Dumbledore smiled fondly at the bird. The headmaster fumbled around in a drawer for a few moments before drawing out something small and setting it on the desk. Harry instantly recognized the golden time-turner.

"I thought we smashed them all in the Ministry of Magic last year."

"So did I," Dumbledore replied, "but even I have been known to be mistaken every once in a while."

"But why is this time-turner important, sir?"

"This did not come into my possession until two days ago, Harry. Not even an hour before the castle was attacked. I must admit, there have been many strange occurrences in my life, but I believe this may top the list. I was sitting here, at this desk when I appeared where you are sitting now, Harry."

Harry must have looked incredibly perplexed, because Dumbledore smiled briefly before continuing. "I found myself facing myself from the future, Harry. My older self proceeded to inform me of the imminent attack. But that is not the reason he had come. He proposed an incredible idea to me, one which I never would have thought of on my own. He would take my place in the battle, the battle that he knew I was to die in."

"But why?" Harry blurted. "I mean, sir, what is the point? Everyone thinks you are dead."

"That, Harry, is exactly the point. There are many advantages to having the entire world believe you are dead. Voldemort certainly used it to his advantage. I hope to do the same. Voldemort believes I am dead, and except for you, Harry, so does everyone else. An unexpected resurrection on my part will certainly throw Voldemort off guard, and if at a critical moment, may even help us to defeat him."

"But what will you do until then, sir?"

"I am leaving Hogwarts tonight, and will travel to a place I know I will not be discovered. There I plan to immerse myself in study in hopes of finding ways to weaken Voldemort so that you may more easily kill him, Harry. My older self, unfortunately, could give me only tantalizing hints about the future of the war. However, I know there will come a time where I will use this time-turner to do the exact thing my older self did."

"Come back in time and die for real?"

Dumbledore nodded. "None of us can live forever, Harry."

Harry was feeling as thought tons of weight had been lifted off him. Dumbledore wasn't really dead, at least not his Dumbledore. "Sir, I have a question about…"

"The Amorgape spell, right?"

Harry nodded.

Dumbledore chuckled softly. "We really need to begin teaching Latin and Greek in depth. Amorgape, Harry, is an ancient spell, rooted in both Latin and Greek. It is a love spell."

"A love spell?"

"Yes, a love spell. That is why you felt so very tired after having performed it. It takes every ounce of love you possess and turns it into pure light, when performed under the right conditions. Alone, it would not have done much, but when performed together it is immensely powerful. Pure love, Harry, is like poison to Voldemort. Enough love was poured into that spell to cover the entire castle and force Voldemort out."

"So it was the solution to saving Hogwarts," Harry mumbled.

"It was, indeed."

"Sir, may I ask one more question?"

"I believe that was a question, Harry," Dumbledore mused with a wry smile. "But I will allow a second question."

"Sir, I ran into Sna…I mean, Professor Snape in the dungeons and he told me he was loyal to whichever side served his best interest at the time…"

Dumbledore held up his to silence Harry. "You must trust me, Harry, when I tell you Professor Snape is on our side."

"But I never saw him at the battle. And come to think of it, I haven't seen him since."

"That is because he was forced to flee the castle."

"What?"

Dumbledore sighed lightly. "Professor Snape has consented to play a double agent for many years, a very dangerous job that placed his life at risk. This past year, however, was even more risky because Voldemort was becoming suspicious, as were other Death Eaters. You have been told all the inside information we had Harry. Professor Snape could no longer help us, Voldemort was too suspicious. So, when Peter Pettigrew appeared at his office two days ago, he was forced to make a choice. After you left, he cornered a group of Death Eaters who had escaped the tunnels. He killed several, but was forced to run before he was killed as well. Voldemort has no doubt learned of his treachery by now, and will not rest until he is dead. Therefore, Professor McGonagall sent Severus to take cover at headquarters. It is the only place he will be safe, though I'm sure he will not be content to stay there for long."

"So then we are cut off from all information from Voldemort?"

"Except for what we could glean from the captured Death Eaters, we no longer have a spy feeding us inside information.

"And what about Pettigrew…"

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "I'm surprised you don't know yet," he replied with just the hint of a smile. "Peter was one of the Death Eaters we captured." He flipped open a copy of the Daily Prophet that was sitting on the desk. The headline screamed: PETTIGREW LIVES: BLACK CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES.

Harry leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I wish Sirius could have lived to see this."

"Who says he can't see it?" Dumbledore replied cryptically.

Harry looked up at the headmaster with moist eyes; all the emotions of the last few days were threatening to spill over again. "If only I could have killed Voldemort instead of just driving him out of the castle. This whole war would be close to over."

"Perhaps it was not time for that yet," said Dumbledore. "But you found a very effective spell that you can use against him. You must have realized that the power you possess that he knows not is love, Harry."

Harry nodded. "But you can't kill someone with love."

"Don't underestimate its power."

Harry gave Dumbledore a questioning look, but Dumbledore said nothing more. Harry knew it was time for him to go back to the common room.

"Will I be seeing you again?" Harry asked tentatively as he reached for the door.

"Oh, I think there is quite a strong possibility of that," Dumbledore returned with a smile. "In the mean time, I will send you letters, especially if I find anything that may be of value to the war." The headmaster looked as if he was preparing to leave as well. He fastened his traveling cloak around his neck and gently scooped up the fledgling phoenix.

"Won't it look suspicious if Fawkes is gone?" Harry blurted.

"Not at all, Harry. Phoenixes almost always leave when their master's die. They will live in the wild until they pick someone new to be their master. It would be far more suspicious if I left Fawkes here."

Harry nodded. "Goodbye, sir."

"Goodbye, Harry."

Harry didn't look back as he left the headmaster's office. An enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders, with the knowledge that Dumbledore wasn't dead, but it was replaced by the immense responsibility of keeping the secret. Even though the headmaster lived secretly, there were still the ten dead students who had died for real. And Harry felt no more confident about defeating Voldemort than he had before the battle; he could see no end to the war.

The common room was crowded but quiet. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting in front of the fire, quietly discussing something. Harry sat down beside Ginny and immediately pulled her into his arms. Just the feel of her warm body close to him was a comfort.

"What were you talking about?" he asked quietly once he had finally let Ginny go.

"I saw Blaise after the funeral," Hermione whispered softly. "And I asked him how things were going in Slytherin. He said that most of the children whose parents are Death Eaters have gone home already. Malfoy left first, of course, seeing as he actually had a hand in everything that happened, and the rest followed. Blaise doesn't suspect any of them plan on returning next year."

"Well none of us may be returning next year," Ron added gloomily.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked again.

"The Daily Prophet is reporting that the Ministry and the school administrators are talking about closing Hogwarts. They are afraid that there could be an attack again next year, and the Ministry's defenses are stretched so thin already that they can't really afford to keep sending Aurors to protect the school."

"But we're safer here, in numbers, than we are at home," Harry argued.

"You don't have to tell us that," Ginny reminded him. "McGonagall feels the same way, but she just doesn't have the power behind her that Dumbledore had with the Ministry. What she says should happen to the school doesn't mean anything."

Harry put his head in his hands. "Well, Hogwarts or not, as soon as I turn seventeen I'm leaving the Dursley's."

"Why wait that long?" Ron commented. "Ignore them and come straight to HQ off the train."

"I can't," Harry replied. "I don't want to, but I have to go back. There are protections I have at the Dursley's that I don't even have at headquarters."

"And if Hogwarts closes, what do we do?" Ginny asked.

"I've talked to several teachers," Hermione replied, "who have promised to hold lessons at their own homes if Hogwarts closes. That way the older students can be prepared for O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s, while the younger students can continue learning basic magic."

The next morning Harry lugged his packed trunk down the common room steps, well aware that it might be the last time he did so. He loved Hogwarts, but knew that if it didn't reopen, he would simply become more active with the Order. He joined Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, who were waiting for him before they all headed down to the entrance to catch a carriage to the train. Dumbledore's words about love, "don't underestimate its power," kept popping into his mind. He looked at his friends and knew he was loved. He knew, somewhere, there had to be the power to fully defeat Voldemort; he would spend his lifetime searching for it, if that's what it took.

The End

A/N: I wasn't really happy with this ending, but I couldn't come up with anything better, so I hope its not too disappointing. I probably forgot to tie up a few loose ends, so if there is something I forgot send me a signed review and I'll reply to it with the explanation. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Add me to your author alert so you will be notified when I post new stories. I have a few in the works that should be up soon. Thanks!


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